When Life Became a Game
by cindella204
Summary: "For me, life had become a game. A game to survive…" When there are no volunteers in District 4 for the first time in years, Finnick Odair finds himself in the arena at the age of 14. Will a well constructed façade and an unexpected ally keep him alive?
1. Prologue

**DISCLAIMER:**

**There are several concepts, characters, and real life things that I use and/or mention in this chapter that I don't own. These include but are not limited to the Hunger Games and Finnick Odair.**

**...**

**A/N: Thanks for your interest in my story! I am writing the 65th Hunger Games. At the beginning of each chapter, I will post a warning with any kind of "age related content" upcoming in the chapter. I intend to keep the story rated T, but I appreciate it in other stories so I am doing the same. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review, even to say you hate my story and I suck. (Only say that if you really think that!) I will try to give as much detail as possible, so let me know what you think!**

**...**

**IN THIS CHAPTER: **Moderate violence

**...**

**PROLOGUE**

_The axe lodges into the back of Lecia Odair's head and a cannon booms. A hovercraft promptly removes her body. The voice of Claudius Templesmith, the Hunger Games announcer, breaks my trance. I'm eight._

_"I present to you the winner of the 59th Hunger Games, Glamour Rosenfeld, of District 1!"_

_My mother makes a strangled sound from behind me on the couch. I turn to see a silent tear running down her cheek._

_"Lecia. No, no, NO, not my Lecia. I can't lose another member of my family."_

_My father died in a fishing accident less than a year ago. Seventeen year old Lecia volunteered for the Games intending to bring back the money that we'd need to survive without his income._

_"Oh Finnick. Lecia's gone. Gone! What will we do without her?" my mother cries._

_I rise from the floor and go to sit next to my mother, wrapping my arms around her._

_As upset as she is, being comforted by her eight year old son is just too much because she says unexpectedly, "I'm so sorry Finnick. I should be comforting you, but instead your comforting me, and you must be so upset, and I'm not any help at all, and—" At this point she's crying so hard that any thing else she says is unintelligible._

_The death of my sister is hard for me too, but we'd never been close since she was nine years older than me. The main issue on my mind is that Lecia had entered the games to win money, and now she's dead. How were we going to survive now? If I start doing odd jobs, we may be able to scrape by for a couple of years, but it wouldn't be enough for long. There is only one possible answer. When I'm older, I'll volunteer for the Games. And I'll come home victorious._

Finnick Odair. District Four tribute, Victor, Mentor, and some other things I'd rather not talk about. This is my story.

**...**

**Please review, I really appreciate the feedback!**

**-cindella204**


	2. Part I :The Arena: Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER:**

**There are several concepts, characters, and real life things that I use and/or mention in this chapter that I don't own. These include but are not limited to the Hunger Games, Finnick Odair, and Victor's Village.**

**...**

**IN THIS CHAPTER: **Mild adult language

**...**

**CHAPTER 1**

"FINNICK. WAKE. UP!"

I jump about a foot before realizing it's just my mother. I sigh in annoyance. "Whaaat, Mom?"

"Today is Reaping Day, and you know District Four's going early this year, and if we're not there on time the Peacekeepers are gonna come and beat the living crap out of us until we are more dead than alive!" she yells.

I've seen that last part before. When I was eleven my next door neighbor who was sixteen didn't show up for Reaping Day. He didn't have to worry about it the next year because he was dead.

"Coming Mom!" I get out of bed and put on a pair of khaki pants and a button down shirt. A lot of kids wear their best clothes on Reaping Day, and I'm no exception. It certainly isn't the nicest thing I've ever owned, but since my dad and sister are gone and I'm not old enough to get a real job, we don't really have the money to buy unnecessary extras. I don't own anything that I couldn't wear on a day of survival lessons at the Training Center.

"Finnick! If you don't hurry up your not going to have time to eat breakfast!"

I shove on a pair of sneakers and walk into the kitchen. "Sorry Mom."

"It's fine Finnick. Just hurry up and eat so we can leave."

I open the cabinet looking for oats to make oatmeal. Looking into the tin, I realize that there is only one serving left. _Crap_, I think. I'll have to go to the market tomorrow and get more. I pour the oatmeal into a bowl with hot water, letting it stand to thicken up. I've always preferred milk, but that was a luxury that had to be given up once my mom and I fell on hard times. I had to give up a lot after my father died, and even more after Lecia's Games. Back in the good days, my father was one of the most respected fishermen in the district. He was able to catch fish and seafood that no one else could, rare creatures that merchants from the Capitol would pay a great deal for. Any extras were fought over by the residents of the District. Even in kindergarten I'd see people point and whisper. That continued until my father died two days before my eighth birthday. His most profitable product was shark, used to make soups in the Capitol. After a brutal fight, he was able to capture the shark, but then the shark capsized the ship. Or at least that's the story. Everyone on the ship died so no one really knows. That day my life changed, probably forever. My mom works as a trainer, teaching shiny-eyed teenagers survival skills to use in the Games. Four is a career district; it's illegal, but no one seems to care. She gets paid, but not much. People who work as trainers don't do it for the money, they do it for the future of District Four. And before my dad died, we didn't need the money. But all of a sudden, her small salary wasn't enough. Lecia got a job as an assistant to a fisherman. She got paid decently, but it still wasn't enough to support all three of us for more than a couple months. So Lecia volunteered for the Games. At first both my mom and I were worried sick, but as Lecia made it to the Top 5, Top 3, and eventually the Top 2, we both accepted the idea that we'd soon be victor's family. Living in Victor's Village where money grew on trees and hunger was a word in the dictionary, not a lifestyle. But then Glamour Rosenfeld's axe ended up in Lecia's head. Her salary was lost. My mom started working as a fishing assistant whenever she wasn't at the Training Center, and so did I as soon as I turned ten. But it still wasn't easy. Between my mother working multiple jobs and me going to school, attending classes at the Training Center, and working, our small house was usually unattended. Anything that we didn't have to buy, we didn't, just to make ends meet. Things that I had been doing as long as I could remember had to be cut, like having clam chowder every Wednesday (A tradition in Mom's family). Chowder was expensive. We didn't have money for expensive foods if they wanted to have three meals a day. For me, life had become a game. A game to survive…

"Finnick, are you paying attention? That oatmeal's probably a big glob of slime at this point!"

"Sh*t!" I mutter under my breath. It _is_ a big glob of slime. But that is the last of the oatmeal and even if it wasn't I don't have time to make any more. So I choke down the mass of goo and wash out the bowl.

"Mom! I'm ready!"

"Good," she answers. "Let's go."

As I walk out the door towards the Justice Building, nervousness gnaws at my gut. I'm not sure why. Maybe because I took tesserae for myself and my mother. But even if I was reaped, someone would volunteer for me. I can't remember the last time a fourteen year old from Four had participated; we are a career district. If only I knew.

**...**

Less than five minutes after my mother and I arrive at the town square, Peacekeepers leave to go round up families that aren't in attendance.

"Good we got here when we did," my mom whispers to me.

I nod but don't answer as I leave to walk up to the section where eligible teenagers watch the Reapings. I'm still nervous. It's dumb, but I am. The nervousness is eaten up by awe as I see District Four's escort appear on the stage.

"My name is Elesah Gage, and I will be escorting for District Four this year! I'm so excited to meet this year's tributes!"

_No kidding_, I think. Elesah's hair, eyes, lips, and dress are all the same color, sea green, similar to my eyes.

"Well, what are we waiting for! Let's find out who will be this year's tributes!" Elesah spins a glass ball in front of her and pulls out a slip of paper.

"The girl representing District Four in the 65th Hunger Games will be sixteen year old Korey Kassidy!"

Korey saunters up to the stage.

I make a sour face at the sight of her. Korey and I have a love/hate relationship. Right now we are on the hate side. She's a b*tch and kind of a slut depending on how you look at it. I feel sorry for whoever gets stuck with her.

"And your male tribute will be fourteen year old Finnick Odair!"

Hearing my name jaunts me out of my musing. A wave of panic washes over me as I walk up to the stage. It is soon replaced by confidence. This isn't an outside district like Twelve. A volunteer will replace me.

Two Peacekeepers swiftly remove the glass balls from in front of Elesah.

"Does anyone volunteer to replace Korey Kassidy?"

Korey leans into Elesah's mic. "I don't want to be replaced. I was going to volunteer this year, but now I don't have too!"

I almost roll my eyes, but Elesah smiles. "Well, someone is amped up and ready to win! Would anyone like to replace Finnick Odair?"

Silence. I finally understand what the oxymoron "loud silence" meant in a book I read in English class years ago.

Elesah frowns. "Really, no one is volunteering for Finnick. Usually District Four is so eager…"

"It's really okay Elesah. I've wanted to participate in Hunger Games since I was eight." I give what I hope is a cocky looking smirk. And it isn't a lie. I _have_ wanted to participate in the Games since I was eight. I wasn't planning on going when I was fourteen, and even if I went when I was older it was because my family desperately needed the money, but I'm good with weapons and great at anything involving physical activity. I am going to win these Games. For my Mom.

**...**

**A/N: I've wanted to write Finnick's story forever and now I'm finally doing it...I think that Finnick's thoughts are really important to the story, but if it's too much PLEASE review and let me know. I beg you for reviews. Even if you hate it, please let me know.**

**-cindella204**


	3. Part I Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER:**

**There are several concepts, characters, and real life things that I use and/or mention in this chapter that I don't own. These include but are not limited to the Hunger Games, Finnick Odair, and Peacekeepers.**

**...**

**IN THIS CHAPTER: **Mild Adult Language and Mild Sexual Reference

**...**

**CHAPTER 2**

A Peacekeeper grabs my arm and drags me into the Justice Building.

"Wait here," he growls before stalking out.

While I wait for my visits to begin, I think about what has just happened.

I, Finnick Odair, live in District Four, a Career District.

I, Finnick Odair, was chosen to participate in the Hunger Games.

I, Finnick Odair, was not replaced by a volunteer.

I, Finnick Odair, will be participating in the 65th Hunger Games.

I, Finnick Odair, could die, or I could become a victor and build a new life for my mom and myself.

I, Finnick Odair,—

_Crack._

I watch my mom enter the room sobbing.

"Finnick!" she cries.

"Mom!" Somehow, seeing the tears in my mom's eyes makes me feel even worse than I already did. I am the only one left for my mom. And I'm leaving. With a 4% chance of coming back.

"Mom, Mom, I'm so sorry! I'm gonna do this. For us, for Lecia. I'm gonna win this one; no one can stop me. We're gonna live in Victor's Village with a—"

My mom was giving me a look that said that I could cut the BS because she was my mother and she knew me better than anyone else.

"What?" I ask.

She shakes her head. "I'm sorry, Finnick. Ever since Lecia, I've been a wreck. I've treated you like my husband instead of my son, and I've been no support to you, and your trying to protect _me_ by telling me all this stuff, and I've made—"

I can't take it. "MOM!" I yell.

"Wh-what?"

"Even though it got hard when dad died, and even harder after Lecia died, I've never really needed anything more than you could give. Sure, sometimes I've been hungry—"

My mom flinches when I say this but I continue.

"Sometimes I've had to wear clothes from two years ago that don't even fit right because we can't afford new ones. But you know what I've always had? A mother who I can count on to bring home whatever she can. A roof over my head. Running water. Some amount of food on the table, even if it's only a little. Things haven't always been great for us, but you've always done your very best for me and that's all that I can ask. And when I get back as victor of the 65th Hunger Games, we won't have those problems anymore either."

"Finnick…"

"No, Mom! I'm not going to sit here and listen to you beat yourself up when you haven't done anything wrong."

My mom pulls me into a hug and whispers into my ear, "No matter what...happens, I'll always be proud of you Finnick."

I take her face in my hands. "Mom, this won't be the last time we see each other, okay?"

A Peacekeeper storms into the room yelling, "You're time is up Mrs. Odair!"

Mom ignores him and clings on to me for a long time before letting go. Then, we just sit there looking at each other for who knows how long.

The Peacekeeper begins to get agitated. "Mrs. Odair! If you do not come immediately, I will call for support to escort you out."

She glares at him. "You know what, you're already sending my son to your g*dd*mn Games so he can kill or be killed, I think you can spare thirty seconds for me to say goodbye to him since I won't see him for at least a couple weeks!"

Even though I'm fully aware that this may be the last time I see her, I can't help but smile.

As soon as my mom is out of sight, my girlfriend, Irlissa Vandyerlin, stumbles in.

"FINNICK!" she cries, running towards me.

I sprint towards her until we collide in a seemingly awkward hug. But nothing is awkward with Irlissa.

"I'm sorry Irlissa," I whisper into her hair. "I'm so, so sorry."

"I just don't understand," she moans. "Brent is a career. He's spent his life training for this. And he's seventeen. Why didn't he volunteer?"

Brent was in my survival skills class. He passes weapons classes with flying colors, but doesn't seem to understand that if you can't find food or water, you die.

"Brent?" I ask. "If I die, he'll probably have a party. Why would he volunteer for me?"

Brent _hates_ me. Maybe because I'm just as good as him in pretty much anything, and a lot better with a trident, which is the signature weapon of our district. And he's three years older than me. Not that I care, or rub it in his face, but no, my existence bothers him. Or it might be because he asked Irlissa out and she said no because she wanted me. Either way, that guy would give up everything he owns if it means my death. So he obviously wouldn't volunteer to replace me in the Games.

"Well he's wanted to be in the Games all his life…"

"Correction, he's _thought_ he wanted to be in the Games all his life. Maybe when opportunity came a' knocking he decided he didn't want this as much as he thought."

"Oh, Finnick, what if you die? I wouldn't be able to— "

I stop her with a soft kiss on the lips. I hold it until I need to come up to breathe, and being an avid swimmer that is quite a bit of time. I only pull away an inch or two. "No matter what happens, I love you. And when I see you again, I'll still love you."

"Me too," she whispers back to me.

She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a silver bangle.

"I got it made for your birthday, but then I decided to bring it just in case you were stupid enough to volunteer. Please take it as your token."

When I look at the bangle more closely I realize that it has our names embossed in it.

"Irlissa, how did you— ," I stop realizing I knew how she got it made. "Branson"

Branson's a victor. For an exorbitant amount of money, he'll bring back various items that can only be found in the Capitol when he returns from one of his quarterly visits.

"But it must have been so expensive!"

"It was worth it for you Finnick," she tells me.

I'm about to pull her into a kiss when a Peacekeeper barks, "Your time is up Miss Vandyerlin!"

_Way to ruin the moment_, I think, not that the Peacekeeper would care. He'd probably say the exact same thing with the exact same tone if we were having sex. And call support to "escort her out" when she stopped to put her clothes back on. Heartless Capitol freaks.

qxdNext in is Lance, my best friend. Correction, my _only_ friend, with the exception or Irlissa. Not every pretty boy has millions of friends that he's with 24/7. As soon as he walks in, I know this will be the hardest of my goodbyes. With the girls it is easier, they cry, you hug them and tell them that when you get back you can live happily ever after with them. But I knpw it wouldn't be that easy with Lance. We just stare at each other for a while, not really knowing what to say when he notices the bangle on my wrist.

"From Irlissa?"

I nod.

"Nice. You can bring this one home Finnick. Let's face it, you're everything a guy could hope to be at fourteen."

I'm not sure exactly what to say to that. When I don't respond, he continues.

"You're fit, fast, strong, smart, and attractive."

I raise my eyebrow at that last part but don't say anything.

"For the sake of District Four, you've gotta win this. We sure as h*ll need it…"

I respond for the first time since he started talking.

"I know. And that's why I'm going to come back to District Four wearing a crown, not in a box."

He smiles.

"Good luck, man."

"Thanks."

He gives me an awkward hug, and as we pull apart the jack*ss Peacekeeper comes and says, "Your time is up!"

As Lance walks out the door he mouths, "You can do this."

And all that I can think is, _I hope I can_.

**...**

**A/N: I think my chapters are so short compared to others...I honestly prefer short chapters though. For those of you who love those heartwrenching moments, let me know if this wasn't emotional enough. For those of you who hate them, let me know if it was too emotional. Thanks for your interest and support! I'll update ASAP, but school starts again tomorrow so I'll be exponentially more busy...**

**Please review, I really appreciate the feedback!**

**-cindella204**


	4. Part I Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER:**

**There are several concepts, characters, and real life things that I use and/or mention in this chapter that I don't own. These include but are not limited to the Hunger Games, Finnick Odair, Mags, and the Capitol.**

**...**

**IN THIS CHAPTER: **Moderate Adult Language

**...**

**CHAPTER 3**

The Peacekeeper then grabs my arm and half leads/half drags me through the Justice Building, without even telling me where we're going.

"Hey, I'm not going to be able to fight to the death in a freakin' arena with twenty-three other _kids_ if you dislocate my shoulder before I can get there!" I snarl.

He just grunts and pulls harder.

I think some choice words but don't bother to say anything. Trying to distract myself from the fact that I feel like my arm's being pulled out of the socket; I think back to Lecia's Games; how it worked. First, the reaping and visits in the Justice Building, I just finished that. Next, you take the train to the Capitol. Once you get there, you have the Opening Ceremonies, and then you get your scores from the private training sessions. Lastly are the interviews, your final chance to get sponsors before you enter the arena.

I tune back into the present when I realize that we've stopped moving. We're at the train station platform. Looks like I'm about to start Step Two. Elesah walks up to me.

"Finnick! It's so good to meet you!" she squeals sticking out her hand.

I shake it reluctantly and try to think of something to say, but she's already talking again.

"Your so handsome! I'm sure there's a lucky girl at home, right?" she asks.

I nod. "Irlissa Vandyerlin," I say showing her the bangle.

"Did she give that to you today?"

I nod and start to explain, but she exclaims:

"Awww! That's sooo sweet! Too bad about the Games…come on Finnick, let me show you to your room!"

_Thank God_, I think. I don't consider myself aggressive, well I didn't then, but punching her in the face is starting to seem more and more appealing.

I'm so busy being angry that I don't notice when Elesah stops and run smack into her.

"Sorry," I say as I feel my face heat up.

"It's okay sweetie," she says with a smile. "You found out about going to the Games less than two hours ago, you must be so emotionally overwhelmed! Here's your room, dinner is at 5:30, but until then you can chill here!"

I step into the room, and I am immediately awed by the size. It's probably eight by eight feet, around twice the size of my room at home. As soon as I sit down on the bed (Most comfortable bed ever!) I am overtaken by pure exhaustion. I decide to take a nap since I have almost five hours before dinner. I fall asleep quite..._easily_. That would probably be the last time. Ever.

I wake up about three and a half hours later. At first it's like a dream. Lying on a soft, comfortable bed in a huge room, doing whatever I want...until I hear Korey Kassidy's voice from next door. And then I remember that I am on a train to the Capitol so that I can be shipped off into the arena and forced to kill kids. Somehow, it feels like being reaped all over again, and all I want is to stand under a hot shower and think. I look at the clock to see I have about an hour and a half until dinner. I quickly throw my clothes onto the bed and get into the shower, where I see a touch screen panel and a power button. I press the button, and a whole bunch of options pop up on the touch screen. The first one is red and blue, I assume that is water temperature and slide with my finger until the water is almost as hot as it gets. Then, steam. I choose none, steamy showers make me sweat, and doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of showering? The next option is "Type of Soap". The choices are body wash, exfoliating, and scented. I'm used to using bar soap, but I choose body wash, because I'd rather not smell like a flower, and I don't even know what "exfoliating" means. Liquid soap squirts onto a thing that looks like a whole bunch of small plastic nets glued to a ball. I take it assuming I'm supposed to wash with it, and then just stand under the hot water until I have nothing left to think about. I press the power button to turn off the shower, when something starts to flash on the touch screen. Apparently I need to choose a moisturizing lotion before I can get out of the shower. It asks me if I have oily skin, dry skin, average skin, or combination skin. Who has time to think about these kinds of things? I choose average, and then it asks what scent I want. After seeing Rose Water, Berries N' Cream, and Peppermint, I start to get worried, but then I spot Sea Breeze. If I have to use the scented crap anyways, it might as well be something that will remind me of home. Without any kind of warning, blue lotion comes squirting from every direction, getting in my eyes, nose, and mouth. I cough until my throat is clear, and then wipe my eyes with a washcloth. It doesn't help all that much, but the stupid water won't turn back on so I just leave it. The lotion must be specially formulated so that my skin will absorb it, because when I'm done trying to get it out of my eyes, I can barely see it at all, just a bluish tint on my skin. Then the water comes on again, rinsing the excess off. Before it shuts off, I manage to rinse the moisturizer out of my eyes. The touch screen says "Treatment Complete" and turns off.

I step out of the shower and look for a towel. I'm about to just dry off with my shirt or something when hot air starts blowing out of the ceiling so fast I almost fall over. By the time that it stops, even my hair is totally dry. As soon as it ends, I hurry out of the bathroom before a robot comes out of the wall and combs my hair or something equally crazy. While I'm putting my clothes back on, I hear Elesah knock on the door. Knowing she's the type who'd come in before I could tell her not to, I put one foot against the door and lean most of my weight against it, figuring that she's as fragile as a toothpick and won't be able to open it.

"Just got of the shower," I call out.

She sighs. "Hurry up, dinner starts in five minutes! The dining hall is just down this hallway!"

"Coming," I say, and wait for her to leave before I take my foot of the door. I quickly slip my clothes on and walk to the dining hall, where I see Elesah, Korey, and two adults I haven't met, a short and kind lady who looks like she's about 65, and a 40 something guy who looks like he'll punch you in the face if you look at him wrong.

"Sorry I'm late," I say.

"Your not late Finnick," Elesah chirps. "It's 5:30 right now!"

I don't even bother to respond.

"Alright guys!" she squeals. "These are your mentors, Mags and Odalys! When your in the arena, your lives will be in their hands! Finnick, you'll have Mags, and Korey, you'll have Odalys."

Korey gives me a look that I take to mean, "Wow, I hate you, why do you always get the good stuff?"

I smirk at her, just to p*ss her off.

Three Capitol servants walk in with steaming plates of food. I try to keep my stomach from grumbling, but fail. If I've ever eaten this well, it was back when my dad was around.

They place before us bowls of soup and walk out without saying a word.

My face must have shown that I didn't understand, because Mags says, "They're avoxes. They can't speak because their tongues have been removed by the Capitol."

I nod, but don't respond. This is the kind of crap the Capitol does to people.

Korey spills some soup, and sucks it off her fingers one by one.

"Korey!" Elesah yells so loud that she jumps and her soup would of gone crashing to the floor if I didn't manage to catch it in time. "Use your napkin!"

She picks up the napkin and wipes her hands on it, and then places it back on the table.

"On your lap," Elesah snaps.

Korey gives me a hopeless look, and I mouth, "Sorry."

She nods and continues to eat her soup, but so slowly and carefully that it would take her hours to finish it.

Luckily, I still remember fine-dining etiquette from fancy dinners with my dad. Even though I was only seven, my table manners have always been pretty decent. His friend's wives would always say, "Awwwwww, he's so handsome and polite!" Ew.

We eat the rest of the soup course in silence. The next course is salad. I nudge Korey and point at the smaller of the two forks. She nods and mouthes "Thanks."

Mags looks at Korey thoughtfully and says, "Korey, do you have any skills that you think would be helpful in the arena?"

"Well...I'm pretty good with a sword, decent with a spear, and agile."

_Pretty good_ with a sword? Serious understatement. She is to sword as I am to trident. Me with a trident and her with a sword actually make a pretty interesting fight. Our trainer had us do it once to demonstrate techniques to use when you opponent is using a different weapon. She "killed" me once, and I "killed" her twice. It was almost…fun.

"What about you Finnick?" Mags asks.

"Umm...I'm pretty good with a trident, I can throw knives, and I'm fast?"

Mags nods. "Those skills will definitely be useful in the arena."

Odalys speaks for the first time.

"Do you two want to discuss training strategies together or separately?"

I look at Korey.

"Umm…"

"Well, are we planning to be allies?" she asks.

"I don't know," I respond.

Odalys sighs and rolls his eyes. "For God's sake, you guys are going to have to make decisions faster than that in the arena. Since you can't decide, I will, they'll be separate."

Mags gives him a look, but doesn't say anything.

The next course comes, and I am awestruck. They have everything sea related you could think of, crabs, lobsters, oysters, calamari, scallops, mussels, clams, caviar, fish of every type, shrimp, and pretty much everything else. Each entree has it's own sauce, some really common ones like garlic butter, and other exotic ones like "marinara" that we have with the calamari. After I've tried a tiny bit of about half the things on the table, and already almost full, I realize something. The hunger in the districts isn't necessary. There is definitely enough food in the Capitol for every person in every district to have more than enough to eat. This ruins my appetite. I was pretty much as poor as you got in Four, and we always had food on the table, it just wasn't enough. But in the outer districts, starvation is as common as disease. The thought sickens me, and when dessert, a molten lava cake, comes, I barely touch it.

Elesah looks at me and asks in her super annoying voice, "Why aren't you eating your cake, Finnick? We haven't even eaten much today."

Mags must realize that I'm about to smack her and attempt to explain what it's like to be hungry, because she says, "It's probably anxiety. How about you rest up in your room, that should help."

I nod and get up quickly.

And we haven't even gotten to the real sh*t yet.

**...**

**A/N: Sorry about the lame ending, I ended it before I was planning to because I didn't want to keep you guys waiting any longer. Speaking of waiting, sorry it took so incredibly long for this to be posted. It definitely isn't my best, but at least it's a little longer than usual. I'll do my best to get the next one up faster, but I have school and another story to attend to. Please review, even if you say I suck! Also, if you have any ideas for tributes, now would be the time to post a review saying so. This is not SYOT, but if you just have an idea for a personality or something I'd be happy to hear it! Thanks for reading!**

**Please review, I really appreciate the feedback!**

**-cindella204**


	5. Part I Chapter 4

**SHOUT OUTS:**

**Special thanks also to "Pineapple Fetish" and "Sonofhell66" for the consistent reviews!**

**...**

**DISCLAIMER:**

**There are several concepts, characters, and real life things that I use and/or mention in this chapter that I don't own. These include but are not limited to the Hunger Games, Finnick Odair, and Panem.**

**...**

**IN THIS CHAPTER: **Moderate adult language (Korey kind of has a potty mouth, sorry)

**...**

**CHAPTER 4**

Dread fills my stomach as soon as I wake up. It's the day of Opening Ceremonies. I am well aware of the fact that I'm pretty...umm...attractive, and I know from watching the Games that they'll put me in some kind of sh*tty costume that shows way more than I need the entire nation of Panem to see. I generally don't give a crap about the Capitol, but all I can think of is that I'll be showing the entire country more than my girlfriend's ever seen. Elesah has ordered us to use exfoliating soap today to help our prep team, and I still don't know what it means; but I don't want to look stupid, so I don't ask. I shower and get dressed just to realize that I have more than an hour before breakfast. I'm about to just go wander around the train when I hear a knock on my door.

"Hey Finnick, can I come in?" Korey asks.

"Sure," I say, because I could use the company, and she's pretty much the only person on this train I don't hate. We're not besties by any means, but my only two friends are both not here, so she's the next best option.

She sits on the side of my bed, and I sit down at the armchair in the corner of the room. "What's up?"

"I know that you think I'm a b*tch, and a slut, and a lot of other things…"

I cringe a bit because I didn't think I made it that obvious.

"...But I just want you to know that the way I've treated you lately…it's not that I think I'm better than you...in anything. You were my only real competition and I was always putting on a front, trying to be the cocky, feisty b*tch, to get respect. It did get me respect from everyone except you. And you were nice to me anyways. I just want to say I'm sorry. And I know that people always make amends before they head into certain death, so it doesn't mean anything to you, but I just wanted to get it out."

I interrupt her. "Wait, certain death?"

"You have a mom who needs you and a girlfriend back home. I have nothing. My parents hate me and I'm single. If anything, I want you to get home. That's why I wanted to ask you if you'd be willing to form an alliance with me. We know each other's fighting styles pretty well, and I figured maybe we could fight together, and I could protect you. Take the "bullet" so to speak and try to save your life since I'm not planning on coming home anyways."

"B-but, you said you wanted to volunteer anyway this year, you were—"

"It's called lying Finnick. I've known you to be pretty d*mn good at it."

"Korey, I couldn't ask you to do that," I say slowly, still reeling from what she's just suggested.

"You're not. I'm asking you to let me do this." she responds without hesitation. She must have planned this from the start. I must look overwhelmed, because she says, "I don't need to know now. Tell me at Opening Ceremonies." With that she gets up and leaves the room.

I walk down to the Dining Hall about fifteen minutes before breakfast starts. I'm the first to arrive, which is exactly what I wanted.

Everyone else arrives together at exactly ten thirty.

Elesah looks at relieved as soon as she sees me. "Finnick! We were so worried when we couldn't find you in your room!

I raise an eyebrow at Korey, figuring that she knew I would of headed here, but say, "I'm an early riser. Needed to be for the fishing job."

Elesah makes a disgusted face. "You had a job?"

"Well some of us have to work for every d*mn grain of bread we eat so that people like you can always have more than enough!" I snap without thinking. I immediately feel my face heat up, and Korey gives me a sympathetic look. Elesah doesn't respond. I eat breakfast in silence, only speaking when someone asks me a direct question, and then in one-word answers if possible. I think they eventually figure out I want to be left alone, because even Mags stops attempting to bring me into the conversation.

After breakfast, Elesah leads us off the train and into Hunger Games Headquarters to get prepped for Opening Ceremonies tonight. I walk slowly so that I'm as far away from Elesah as possible without losing sight of her. Korey soon comes and joins me.

"I figured you needed your space," she says, and it takes me a second to realize that she's trying to explain why she let Elesah freak out about me not being in my room.

I nod at the floor and say, "Thanks."

"Finnick?"

"Huh?" I murmur, still looking at the floor.

"Look at me."

I warily look at her, and see that her turquoise eyes are full of compassion.

"I'm serious about what I said earlier."

I nod, and then ask the question that's been on my mind since she told me about this whole thing. "Did you decide to sacrifice yourself for me, or were you going to sacrifice yourself anyways, and you just decided to help me instead of someone else?"

"Sort of the first one. I figured I'd be fighting some cocky b*stard who had volunteered and wanted to kill everyone in the most painful way possible. A typical career. But when no one volunteered for you, I realized that winning would mean killing you, and that's when I started to have doubts. And my visits sort of sealed the deal. My parents were the only ones who came, and the only reason they give a sh*t is because they want a house in Victor's Village. And the money. I knew that you had your mom and your girlfriend, and decided that I was going to stop being just a pawn for my parents, and the Capitol. At the Center you were always so nice to me even though I was a b*tch to you and you hated me, and now it's my turn to thank you," she explains.

"Isn't giving your life for me a little extreme for repaying my kindness?" I ask.

"No. Because to me it was more than just kindness. The other kids in our class respected me 'cause I was a kick*ss fighter, but nothing else, my family hates me, and I have no friends. You're the only person I know who actually bothers to be nice to me. And I treated you like sh*t. You have a happy life to go back to, I don't. And I owe you. It may have seemed small to you, but when I was having an especially hard day at home, and you'd say something to me, it would totally make my day. You are the only person in my life who cares about me at all. I can't go back to District Four after killing you with nothing to do and ignored 24/7. Training for the Games was my life, after the Games I would have nothing. So I'm going to die so that you can go back to be with your mom, and you girlfriend, and Lance."

As much as I hate to admit it, I was saved by Elesah saying, "Korey, here's you prep room." I had no idea what to say or think, to or about Korey.

Korey smiles at me and mouths, "Good luck."

I nod, and then silently follow Elesah down the hallway.

"Here's your room Finnick," Elesah says.

"Thanks," I mutter before walking in, dreading what's on the other side.

**...**

**A/N: I know this chapter is super short, but I felt like ending it here, so sorry if you are disappointed. I hate the first paragraph, but feel that everything else is pretty good, let me know what you think. Please let me know, (this isn't SYOT, but I could use the ideas). Thanks for reading. This story is at 5 chapters (Including the Prologue) and 7,000 something words. Thanks for your feedback!**

**Please review, I really appreciate the feedback!**

**-cindella204**


	6. Part I Chapter 5

**DISCLAIMER:**

**There are several concepts, characters, and real life things that I use and/or mention in this chapter that I don't own. These include but are not limited to the Hunger Games and Finnick Odair.**

**...**

**IN THIS CHAPTER: **Mild sexual themes and Moderate adult language

**...**

**CHAPTER 5**

I walk down a corridor into a bright white room with a floor to ceiling frosted window. Inside are three Capitol freaks who must be my prep team, one with skin that's literally as white as the walls, long black hair, and red eyes that match the red splatters on her fitted black dress, one with skin and hair dyed sea green and a silver dress and makeup, and one with swirling blue tattoos all over his body and platinum blond hair that looks hideous with his olive green shirt and gray pants. Capitol fashion; no freakin' comment.

"Hi Finnick!" Girl with green skin squeals.

"Hi," I say unenthusiastically.

"I'm Aliss! I'm going to be in charge of your skin treatments and overall body condition!"

I nod slowly.

"I'm Ira. I'm in charge of hair," the guy with the tattoos in a voice that's at least an octave higher than normal.

Both Aliss and Ira glare at the creepy girl until she steps forward and says, "Jayde. Makeup."

I immediately like her more than the other two. She's the only one that doesn't act like she's drank three energy drinks and then sucked a tank of helium.

Aliss gives me another smile. "Go ahead and strip down Finnick."

"Huh?"

"How am I supposed to work with your skin if it's all covered up by clothes?" she asks gently, like a kindergarten teacher talking to a student.

"Take it off. All of it. And then come sit over here."

Great. Just terrific. I just met my cheery little prep team, and now I'm supposed to just strip right on the spot? I'm the probably the sexiest person they'll ever meet, but still. I'm not a strip in front of random people type. More of a Korey thing, even though even _she's_ not that bad.

I quickly take off my clothes and then go sit on the chair that Aliss pointed out.

Still turned around, she says, "Ira and Jayde are going to go conference about your look in the next room while I get you set up, and then they'll come back, okay?"

"'Kay," I say because I really don't give a sh*t, I just want to get this over with.

She turns around, and as soon as she sees me she just stops in her tracks.

And stands there.

And stares at me.

For minutes.

Seriously.

"Aliss?" I say in a singsong voice, cause I'm fourteen for God's sake and this is just _awkward_.

No response.

"Aliss?"

No response.

This is starting to p*ss me off.

"ALISS!"

Nothing.

I wave my hand in my front of my face and scream, "ALISS!" so loud that I hear Jayde say, "What is she doing in there?" from the next room.

Now I'm seriously p*ssed, so I walk over to her and slap her so hard that she sees stars before hissing "Pedophile!" and grabbing a towel off the side wall, carefully wrapping it around me.

Once her head stops spinning, her face turns redder than a monkey's butt.

"I'm s—"

"Save it Aliss!" I snap.

For the next thirty minutes, her full attention goes to either the floor or the nonexistent stubble that she is shaving off my face.

When she's finishes, she leaves and calls in Ira and Jayde without a word to me.

"When we talked to your mentor, she said that your personality was going to be foxy; sexy, but clever," Ira starts.

"So, while you were working with Aliss, we drafted three looks for you. The costume will be decided by your head stylist, but here's what we can do with your face," Jayde says taking out three sheets of paper.

The hair looks relatively the same in all three, dirty blond highlights throughout my bronze colored hair which is cut short in the back and sides, and medium length in the front with bangs that sweep over my forehead. The main difference is makeup. In the first, there's nothing obvious, but I'm sure they'd have me wear foundation and concealer. In the second, I'm wearing sea green eyeliner and eyeshadow. In the third, I'm wearing the same sea green eyeshadow, but with silver eyeliner.

"Your head stylist preferred choice two, but it's ultimately up to you," Ira adds.

"One," I say. "I'm not wearing eye makeup."

"I honestly think that would be best for you too," Jayde says, smiling at me sincerely. "I'm going to help Ira with your hair since I can't do makeup with him in the way, and then I'll take a look at your face, okay?"

"Alright," I say. For some reason, I felt like a jerk treating Jayde the way I treated the other two. If it wasn't for her...interesting looks, she could be from one of the districts. Something tells me that the way she dresses isn't popular in the Capitol either.

"This might sting just a bit," Ira warns before using a paintbrush to apply stripes of thick white cream to my hair.

Every place it touches my head, my scalp feels like it's on fire.

"Jayde, go get a bowl of milk," Ira commands, and she leaves the room.

"Milk?" I ask.

"When your treatment is done, it'll alleviate the pain. We'll wash it out of your hair, it's just soothing," Ira explains.

I don't reply. I'm not planning on being anything more than civil with him or Aliss. And Aliss probably won't even get that.

Jayde walks in with a big bowl of room temperature milk. It takes every ounce of self control in my body to not run over there and dunk my head in it.

I'm starting to get a pounding headache when Ira says, "You should be done now. We're not going for platinum blonde, just a lighter color."

Jayde brings the bowl of milk over and sets in my lap. I hold my breath and soak my whole head in it, getting milk all over my face in the process. It's very, very satisfying. When I finally pull my head out of the bowl, Jayde laughs.

"You really enjoyed that, didn't you Finnick?"

I nod eagerly, wiping my face on the towel that is still wrapped around my waist..

Ira presses a button, and my chair slides across the room to a sink. There, Ira washes the milk and bleach out of hair, and then washes it. Honestly, I _almost_ enjoy the feeling of his fingers massaging my head. Key word, _almost_. Soon he's finished, and the chair moves back to the original spot, except now I'm facing away from the mirror.

Jayde must sense my discomfort at this, because she says, "Ira doesn't like people to see his masterpieces until their finish."

"It's fine," I say nonchalantly, but not seeing what he's doing every step of the way is making me anxious. When he raises a steaming thing with two metal plates to my head, it doesn't help.

"What the h*ll is that?" I ask.

"Flat iron. Makes your hair straighter and silkier," Ira says absently.

"But it's steaming," I say, wondering if he realizes that his "flat iron" looks like it's about to blow up.

"It's pretty darn hot," he responds before beginning to press my hair between the steaming metal. He burns me with it twice, it _is _hot. The second time, Jayde scolds, "Is it really necessary to give the kid injuries before he even gets to the arena?"

I love this woman.

After that he hurries to finish with the iron, cut my hair, and leave.

And then there were two.

"It looks really, really good Finnick," she says smiling.

"Can I see it?" I ask pleadingly.

"Nope," she says laughing as I pout. "We'll have a grand reveal at the end."

Eventually I end up laughing with her. This is the first time I've laughed since the Reaping. In fact, I'm not sure that I had even smiled since then.

"Your easy, all I'm going to do is a tiny bit of cream foundation. Your in really good shape, I've had people come in looking so bad that I had to use more makeup then I wear."

More than she wears? Who knew that was possible? I mean, she's wearing foundation, eyeshadow, eyeliner, lipstick, and some kind of junk on her eyelashes. All black, except the lipstick which is blood red.

"So Finnick, how are you feeling about the Games?"

Anyone else who asked me that would have gotten punched in the face, but with her it seems like she was asking how I feel about what I will have to do in the arena, not how do I feel about being reaped.

"Not that happy about having to kill a bunch of kids to get home. I missed the Reaping recaps so I won't know who I'm going against until tonight, and they'll all be in crazy costumes, so really I won't know until training."

She nods but doesn't say anything. Wow. A Capitol person who doesn't act like she's from the Capitol. I can't see how she grew up around these lunatics and is still like this, so I ask, "Did you grow up in the Capitol?"

She nods. "Yes, but I'm not like the majority; people like me are few and far between in the Capitol. I'm just not into never-ending decadence. 'Cause I know 'some people have to work for every d*mn grain of bread they eat' so that people like me can always have more than enough."

I feel my face heat up as I say, "How did you find out about that?"

She smiles. "I was talking to Elesah. She was whining about how you have an attitude and seem to have something against Capitol people. When she said that, I knew that I'd like you."

I smile, again. Weird.

"I should go get your head stylist. She's going to kill me if I waste anymore time."

Until she said that, I didn't realize that she was messing up my makeup and then fixing it as slowly as possible.

I nod, and she leaves the room.

The woman who comes in scares the h*ll out of me. Her skin is blood red, and she's wearing a dress the color of my skin. There are rips and tears all over it, exposing her skin. Her hair, dyed bright red, goes down to her butt, and she's wearing just as much makeup as Jayde, but it's all blood red.

"I'm Cayne, and I'll be your stylist!" She sticks out her hand for me to shake, but I ignore it.

I must be staring, because she says, "You love it, don't you? My favorite part of the Hunger Games is when the favorite tribute's ally is dying, and the favorite is holding the dying kid's hand. It's so dramatic! I always laugh when they finally die and the hand holder gets all teary eyed before getting all mad and seeking revenge. All those kids are drama queens, it's _ridiculous._"

Oh. My. F—ing. God. I'm about to knock this woman out and have Jayde come back to do my costume when I realize that she is dressing me for my interview, where I get sponsors, so my life is indirectly in her hands. I instead clench my teeth and glare at the floor.

"Since I love the blood, I've decide that's going to be my personal color scheme for the year!"

Don't look at her, don't listen to her. Ignore her. For mom. For Irlissa. For Lance.

She opens the door in the corner of the room, which must be a closet, and pulls out a sparkly thing.

"You're going to be a merman," she says flatly and shows me a sketch of the costume.

I'm shirtless, and then the sparkly stuff is worn like a super tight skirt almost that stops at my ankles and turns into a tail. I'm wearing black leggings and black sneakers with it, and holding a trident.

Okay so the costume's not horrible. I'm not that happy about the glitter, but I'm not going to be naked, so there's something to be thankful for. (Last year District 12 was totally naked and covered in coal dust.)

"Put on the leggings!" she says, thrusting them towards me.

"Don't I get some underwear?" I ask,

"Go find your own," she says before walking away dismissively. I put on my boxers, glad to be wearing some clothing, and then force on the leggings.

"They're skintight!" I whine to Cayne as I attempt to pull them up.

"They're leggings, Finnick," she snaps. "Just put the g*dd*mn things on."

_Why's she so angry?_, I think. 'Cause I didn't understand her costume making fun of kids who get slaughtered every year for her entertainment? If she's gonna act this way regardless, I should have decked her when I had the chance.

After I finish, I grab the tail off the table, and slip my feet through the holes at the bottom.

"Good," Cayne says. "Fold over the top and tuck it into the leggings."

I do, but she doesn't even acknowledge it, just hands me a pair of black sneakers with socks and leaves the room. I put the socks and sneakers on, and wait for her to come back.

She returns almost ten minutes later, with a trident.

"It's real," she says.

I can tell as soon as she puts in my hands. I launch it across the room, where it sticks in the wall, and say, "I know."

She makes a face at me, and beckons me to a chair.

I take my sweet time retrieving the trident before I sit down, and she pulls out a tube of liquid sea green eyeliner.

"H*ll no!" I say, standing up. "There's no way I'm wearing that sh*t."

"Who said it was up to you?" she snarls.

"Ira actually," I say, with just as much anger in my voice.

Her face screws up in disgust.

"Screw him. I'll make you wear it!"

I raise an eyebrow. "You and what army? My outfit's done, I'm leaving," I say, and walk right out the door with her still yelling my name.

I walk downstairs and outside to where we'll wait for the ceremonies to start. Korey hasn't arrived yet, but that doesn't bother me too much. Being virtually friendless, I've always been a watcher. I look around and see at least half of the other tributes have arrived. The pair from One are wearing body suits the color of Cayne's skin, and covered with rhinestones. District 2's girl is in a gray dress, and the boy is in a suit the same color. Boring. District 3's girl hasn't arrived yet, but the boy is wearing a leotard with wires and what must be computer chips glued to it. There aren't personal computers in any of the districts, not even District 2, the Capitol's favorite. The guy is decent looking, way beneath me, but not horrible. I'm obviously from four, and no one has arrived from five. Both tributes from six have arrived. Their industry is medicine, so they're dressed like doctors. Correction, they're wearing these dumb doctor costumes. The kind that the whores wear in porn magazines. With the mini skirts with the slits all the way up the sides and no underwear, those. The girl is hot, but something about the way she's looking at the other tributes is _not_ a turn on. The guy is trying to be sexy, but he couldn't be sexy if he got surgery for it he's so ugly. Fail. Neither from seven have arrived, but both from eight have. They're wearing the same stuff as District 2, but instead of gray they are made of quilts. District 8 is textiles. It looks grandma-ish, but it's not so boring. The guy from Nine is looks like he's about to faint. Their industry is cosmetics, so he's wearing a body suit that looks like it's been splattered with all kinds of makeup, and wearing on his face as much makeup as Jayde wears minus the lipstick. Poor kid. Ten and eleven are empty. Seeing the kids from Twelve _almost_ breaks my heart. Again, the key word is _almost_. If it was possible to sympathize for someone who's going to be trying to kill you in a couple days, it would be in these circumstances. Korey was telling me about them yesterday. The boy is 12 and the girl is 13. They're siblings. They are wearing full bodysuits that cover everything, even their eyes. Black of course, I suppose they're supposed to be coal? The girl is trying not to have an emotional breakdown, and her brother is trying to comfort her. Since they obviously aren't going to win, I hope their parents aren't at the Victory Tour. Imagine having to go up to them and say, "I know I killed both of your kids but…" It wouldn't be good. I see Korey out of the corner of my eye, and when I turn around she takes my breath away. She's _beautiful_. Her stylist has her as a mermaid, so she has a tail like mine, but over it she is wearing a ocean blue mini skirt. On top she has one of those seashell bras, which you can actually find in District 4. They used silver eyeliner and that eyelash stuff, and put a small sea green stripe the color of our eyes in her black bangs.

She steps into the chariot, looks me up and down once, and says, "Wow."

"Right back at you," I respond.

At this point all of the tributes have arrived. The girl from Three is wearing the same thing as her partner. District Five, who is directly behind us, is wearing a simple leotard covered in stuff that looks like molten plastic, and smells like it too. That's their industry in Five, plastics. I can't see seven, nine, ten, or eleven because they are too far behind us. As the doors open and the first tribute begins to roll out, I grab Korey's hand.

She raises an eyebrow and I say, "We're going into this as a team, so we should show it."

She smiles. "Allies?"

"Allies," I confirm. And with that, we are sent out into the circle.

I notice three things, One, we are _sexy beast_. Women and men of all ages are staring at us. Two, Ira, Aliss, and Jayde seem normal compared to these people. They all look like Cayne or worse. Yes, that _is_ possible. Three, as much as I hate Cayne, we're getting great screen time, which means more sponsors in the arena. Awesome.

Deciding to work the crowd a bit, I wink and give and an alluring smile. Girls start to scream. I'm too busy tantalizing the crowd to notice what the other districts are wearing, or how the crowd is reacting to them. I guess I'll watch the Recap. Soon we've stopped, and President Snow is telling us about the Games and how it was started after the rebellion blah blah blah. No one gives a sh*t. Afterwards, they release us to the Training Center. The pair of tributes from Six come up to us, obviously annoyed that we "stole" their sexy idea.

"You're not as gorgeous as you think you are!" the guy snaps at me.

I roll my eyes. "Maybe not, but you couldn't be gorgeous if you got surgery for it, so does it matter?"

He doesn't know what to say to that, but his partner snarls, "And your girlfriend's not cute either!"

Korey glares at her. "We're allies and nothing else. We both have people at home."

"Whatever," she says flipping her hair and dragging her partner with her.

Tomorrow's training. That'll be _fun_ I think as I step into the elevator.

**...**

**A/N: Not my best but super long chapter, 3590 words compared to the usual 1600. Just a couple of notes:**

**1. I know the incident with Aliss is over the top, but isn't everything over the top in the Capitol?**

**2. I didn't make the milk thing up, people who bleach their hair actually do that**

**3. Finnick doesn't know what mascara and flat irons are because the districts probably wouldn't have those items unless you were one of the victors**

**4. I'm not sure if a trident would stick in a wall or not, but we're going to say it does**

**5. Those costumes do exist...they have them in pretty much every Halloween store. No need to find porn.**

**Thanks for reading! I'm still taking tribute ideas! Also, let me know if the language gets over the top, I don't curse at all in real life, and I wasn't planning on using f-bombs at all in this but I decided that was appropriate there. Let me know what you think, and thanks for your dedication!**

**-cindella204**


	7. Part I Chapter 6

**DISCLAIMER:**

**There are several concepts, characters, and real life things that I use and/or mention in this chapter that I don't own. These include but are not limited to the Hunger Games, Finnick Odair, and JumboTron.**

**...**

**A/N: I've decided to add a footnote system, so if you see a bolded and bracketed number (Like [1]) it means there is a footnote at the bottom. Let me know what you think of this.**

**...**

**IN THIS CHAPTER: **Mild sexual themes, mild adult language

**...**

**CHAPTER 6**

"Finnick!"

Korey. "Wha?"

"If you want to see the recaps then come on, they're starting in five minutes."

What?

"Coming," I call, as I jump out of bed and run my hand through my hair before opening the door.

"You slept through dinner, but we saved you a plate," she says as we walk.

"Thanks," I say absently. I'm still trying to figure out how I fell asleep; I don't even remember getting in bed.

"It's in here," Korey says, nodding her head towards a large door. I turn and follow her into the room, where a floor to ceiling television is mounted literally inside the wall with three couches facing it.

Already seated are Mags, Odalys, Elesah, Jayde, and a woman who must be part of Korey's styling team.

Jayde pats a seat between herself and Korey, handing me a plate of food, and I sit down.

"Cayne was supposed to come, but she's….uh, blitzed**[1] **so I came in her place."

Really? After this she will have no responsibilities until the interviews, she couldn't have waited until then to get wasted?

Korey shoots me a look of pity.

I open my mouth to respond, but the anthem blasts from every corner of the room as the seal of Panem fills the screen.

"Medium volume, 1080p resolution, twilight screen settings, lights movie theater," Elesah says, and I watch in awe as the volume and lights lower while the TV readjusts to Elesah's commands.

Korey nudges me. "Close your mouth, you look like a fish."

I abruptly shut it, but I am still astonished by the technology. Two Capitol announcers appear on the screen, wearing these things that look like ear muffs except for the fact that there is a stick that goes from the left side to right in front of the mouth, where it ends with a foamy looking cylinder. The first one, a girl with hot pink hair, skin, eyes, and lips, squeals about how exciting it is that the Games have come. Her voice is so high that I wonder if the Capitol is using some kind of technology to make it higher. The second, a man who looks identical to the woman, but blue, says that "Without further ado" the ceremony recap will begin. First the tributes from District 1. With dramatic makeup accenting their blood red suits, they look dark and powerful, even if they are covered in rhinestones. The announcer lady goes on and on about how she loves the whole outfit. The crowd thinks that District 2 is boring, as I expected, and they never appear on the gigantic JumboTron behind the tributes; the camera cuts from District 1 straight to Three. The guy gets a decent amount of attention, that is until Korey and I appear. The crowd goes wild, and honestly, we were amazing. We look strong, clever, and undeniably _sexy_. The guy announcer literally says that he wouldn't mind bedding Korey. I feel her tense, and squeeze her hand quickly. Even when five comes out, we are still on the screen until the last second. Once we're finally gone, the announcer tries to figure out how District Five's costumes were made, but she's stupid like pretty much all Capitol people, so she guesses things like melted down hot glue gun sticks. I don't know what a hot glue gun is, by I'm pretty darn sure that's not how they did it. Even though Six is showing everything God gave them, they don't get cheers nearly as loud as Korey and I. We basically beat them in their own game without trying to. Seven are dressed as lumberjacks, Mags suggests that their stylists may be referring to the legend of Paul Bunyan, explaining the platform shoes that are probably a good foot tall. I've never heard the story, but I take her word for it anyway. Apparently the Capitol announcers haven't either, because they just mutter something about lumberjacks before quickly moving onto District 8. The Capitol doesn't appreciate anything handmade, and the announcers say the expected better of the district of cloth. The two District Nine tributes are dressed identically, it's actually hard to tell them apart. Ten are dressed like sheep. They are wearing wooly body suits, and their faces are painted white with stage makeup. Honestly, I think they look like little kids at a costume party, but the female Capitol announcer coos about how cute they look until well after the District 11 tributes appear. They are dressed in these weird farmer costumes, that are nothing like what the farmers in District Eleven actually wear. District Twelve's black suits draw an awed reaction from the crowd, and the announcers speculate about the fabric it is made of.**[2]** Snow's speech is cut, thank God, and the announcers appear on the screen, asking Capitol citizens to vote for something or other. They say to get on the "internet" and go to www(dot)hungergames(dot)com(backslash)polls to vote for their favorites. I get up to leave, but Odalys barks, "Stay put! This is important."

I glare at him but sit back down. Five minutes later, the announcers are announcing results. How'd they get them tallied up so fast? In the districts, it would almost a month to put this all together. Granted, we didn't have the "internet" whatever the h*ll that is.

Squeaky voice comes back on, with dramatic music in the background. "The district with the most potential sponsors right now is…"

The faces of all twenty-four tributes appear on the screen, in order by district, male first.

"District Four!"

The TV zooms in to our faces, and Korey and I can't help but smile at each other.

"In a close second place is District Six!"

Did I mention that us and Six are the most...attractive tributes? As my mother always says, "Sex sells."

"And in third is District 12."

Pity votes.

"I'm going to bed," Korey says, and walks out.

"Same," I call over my shoulder as I walk out.

Once we are out of earshot, Korey says, "I need to talk to you."

I nod, and follow her into her room.

The first thing I notice is that she has covered her bare white walls with drawings. I see herself, her parents, her older sister, and even myself. And she's amazing.

"I didn't know you were an artist," I say, awed by her talent.

She blushes and mumbles, "It's really not a big deal, I'm not even that good."

Whoops, I've made her uncomfortable.

"You're _very_ good. You're the only person I've ever met who can make me look as irresistible on paper as I am in real life," I purr, before dropping my eyelids and making a ridiculously provocative pose.

She laughs. Mission accomplished.

"What's up?" I ask

"Right. Come sit," she commands, patting next to herself on the bed.

I sit next to her, close enough to not offend her, but far enough to make sure I'm not sending the wrong message. Irlissa will be waiting when I get home, and I don't want to screw that up with a girl who I can't have anyway.

"We're doing the allies thing, right?" she asks.

"Yeah. That's what I told you before the ceremony," I say somewhat incredulously.

She must have noticed my tone, because holds up her hands in the universal, "Okay, Okay, I surrender" gesture and says, "I know, I know. Just wanted to make sure you still wanted to do it."

"Ohhhh...yeah...so...about it?" Wow, that was horrible. I am usually the epitome of smooth talker. Fail.

"One, are we going to tell our mentors, and two, are we going to join the career alliance?" she asks.

"Two is no, I don't want to get killed because I chose the wrong side in some asinine fight that some ignoramus**[3] **started over something stupid."

"Running out of creative synonyms for stupid, are you Finnick? Ms. Amphetamine would be disappointed in you," she teases, smirking at me.

I audibly groan. "Please don't mention that woman in my presence. Ever." Ms. Amphetamine is our English teacher, who's last name is a drug according to some kid. It could just be BS, but I don't doubt it. This lady is crazy, she's probably _on_ whatever drugs she's named after. And I hate her. Only because she hates me, and Irlissa, and Lance, and probably Korey for that matter.

Korey laughs. "Fine, fine. No Ms. Amphetamine and no career alliance. But what about Mags and Odalys?"

I sigh. The mentors might immediately ix-nay the idea completely, but if they actually agreed it would make the whole thing a lot easier.

"I'm not sure about Odalys, but Mags would probably do it if that's what you wanted."

"But Odalys is my mentor, not Mags," she nitpicks.

"Way to rain on my parade," I mutter under my breath, before saying, "Odalys is a lackadaisical**[4]** jack*ss. It's going to be Mags looking out for both of us in the arena."

"And you said _I_ was raining on _your_ parade. But it's probably true."

I yawn suddenly. "I'm exhausted. Can I leave?"

She nods. "Yes, please so I can change and go to bed."

Fight the temptation, fight it. Temptation wins. "Your changing? Suddenly I'm not so tired anymore...maybe I'll stay right here."

Korey rolls her eyes. "Fin-nick!"

"Fine, fine," I grouse, trying and failing to keep a straight face, as she pushes me out the door. She's decently strong. As I climb into bed, I'm still smiling, for real.

**...**

**FOOTNOTES**

**1. **Slang for drunk

**2. **Visit www(dot)rootsuit(dot)com to see an example of these

**3. **Idiot

**4. **Lazy

**...**

**A/N: Short, I know. And yes I didn't even start training. I already know what I want to do for the private session, but I'm not sure about training...I will try to post the next chapter some time this week. Also, please let me know what you think of the footnote thing, and REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW. I know people who mark my story as a favorite and follow but don't review, it makes my day when I get a positive review, or even a negative one because it tells me you care. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW. Anyone who reviews gets a shout out in the next chapter! Thanks!**

**-cindella204**


	8. Part I Chapter 7

**SHOUT OUTS:**

**Special thanks to "DaniLUVyou", "keiriala", and "sparklegem108" for reviewing the previous chapter!**

**...**

**DISCLAIMER:**

**There are several concepts, characters, and real life things that I use and/or mention in this chapter that I don't own. These include but are not limited to the Hunger Games, Finnick Odair, the Training Center, Atala, Enobaria, the Cornucopia, and Mags.**

**...**

**A/N: I'm sorry if Finnick seems a bit OC in this chapter, but this is a side of him I really wanted to write. The cocky and sarcastic, but charming Finnick you are used to will be coming really soon! I promise!**

**...**

**IN THIS CHAPTER: **STRONG Adult Language, Mild Violence, Mild Intense/Frightening Scenes

**...**

**CHAPTER 7**

"Finnick! Finnick Caviar Odair! FINNICK!" yells a squeaky voice.

I swing open the door to find a hysterical Elesah.

"Hurry up Finnick! You have training in two hours and you aren't even up! Here's your shoes, take them!" she screams, while thrusting the shoes at me.

Two hours! She woke me up screaming my full name because I need to be ready in _two hours_? And how'd she even figure out my middle name was Caviar? That's information I don't share with most; a lot of people find it particularly humorous that my mom loves caviar enough to name me after it. Apparently, she'd had dinner at a victor's house two days before I was born, and when she couldn't think of a good middle name for me she decided to use that. After having my locker splattered with around $350 worth of caviar (where they got it, I don't know) in sixth grade, I stopped telling people that.

I shut the door in Elesah's face, and jump in the shower. I then pick out an outfit for training, soft khaki pants, a blue shirt that complements my eyes, and the shoes Elesah gave me. They are black athletic shoes with teal accents. My name is on the heels, a number four on the sides, and a check-mark looking thing.**[1]** They're actually kind of cool, I wonder if the victor gets to keep theirs. As I walk down to the dining hall, I almost trip twice because I'm used to wearing flat sandals, if I'm wearing shoes at all. These force you to walk totally different. When I walk into the dining hall, and everyone except Korey has arrived, including the stylists. Crap. I'm seven minutes late; Elesah will have a fit.

"Good Morning, Finnick!" Elesah chirps cheerily. "How did you sleep last night?"

Or not.

"I was having nightmares about being beaten to death with clubs, but other than that just fine, thank you," I reply, matching her cheery tone. If she was new and inexperienced I wouldn't have said that, but she's been District Four's escort since Lecia's Games six years ago, so she should know how stupid of a question that was. I found out that I'm going to have to fight to the death with twenty-three other teenagers for the entertainment of _your_ people less than forty-eight hours ago, but I slept just fine! Lucky for me, Korey runs into the room, so I don't have to deal with the reprimanding look on Mags' face.

"I'm so sorry I'm late," she gasps, trying to catch her breath.

We were supposed to get to breakfast at 9:30, and it was now 9:44.

Elesah glares at her. "You need to do better than this! Punctuality is key! In fact, seconds will get you killed in the arena before you even get to the Cornucopia!" she snaps. The arena comment p*ssed me off anyway, but the wounded look on Korey's face pushes me over the edge.

"Last time I checked, you've never been in the arena, Elesah. And why would you care anyway, because you want your tribute to die from some dramatic wound that you can discuss with your little Capitol friends instead of some lowly bloodbath death? All you do is toddle around in your five inch heels yelling at people about things that aren't important, when one or both of us will be _dead_ in a matter of weeks! Have _you_ ever been in the arena? Have _you_ ever lost a friend or family member in the Games? No! So _you _can shut the f— up!"

I can feel that my face is bright red, and after that rant I sit for minute catching my breath and trying to think of a way to get out of the lecture on respectfulness coming my way. Wait a minute, this all started because of her comment on punctuality. Perfect.

"Oh look at the time, it's 9:45 and training starts at ten. I think we should head out, after all, punctuality is key!" I snatch an orange out of the fruit bowl, toss it to Korey, and then half lead, half drag her down the hallway until we step into the elevator.

"Sorry," I mutter, taking great interest in the number four sewn into the side of my shoe.

"It's fine, really. The nightmares kept me up all night so I overslept, and then I spent almost forty-five minutes trying to find my token, which she packed away without even telling me!"

I want to hate that woman more and more every minute.

"What is it?"

She reaches into her shirt and pulls out a necklace, a small and slightly translucent purple gemstone surrounded by blue beads. I open my mouth to ask about it, but she shakes her head and says, "I'll tell you later. I-I can't talk about it without…" she trails off but I know where she's going. If she starts talking about it, she's going to cry, and she really can't afford to do that right now.

I nod and give her hand a reassuring squeeze. She looks up into my eyes, my sea green ones reflected in hers, a dark turquoise.

"Thanks," she whispers.

"Mhmm," I murmur as we walk into the doors of the Training Center.

**...**

The center is huge. On the left wall are stations about food and water sources and healing. The right wall features survival skills. The far wall is lined with targets and dummies, and in front to them are the weapons stations. As I walk in, the head trainer, Atala, gives me a teal shirt that matches my shoes with the number four sewn into it.

"Put it on over your shirt."

I slip it over my head and see that everyone is wearing a similar shirt, but in their district's color. District Eleven, Agriculture, is blue, but other than that they actually make sense. Teal for us, brown for Seven, Lumber, black for Twelve, Coal, etc. In the center of the area are twenty-four circles arranged in an eight by three rectangle. Each has a district number and the word "male" or "female" inscribed in it. The tributes that have already arrived are standing on their circles. Korey and I walk to our spots, and then look around at all the stations. I immediately focus on a station in the back with tridents and spears. I've got ideas for the careers, and if I'm gonna get in with them they are going to want to see something good.

"Did you do survival back at home?" Korey asks.

"Yeah. I didn't do first aid, though. Or food, it seemed pointless when I didn't know what the arena would be like."

"Same here. Should we do that first?"

No, we shouldn't. "I had this idea about the careers. I can tell you about it later. But in order for it to work, they need to be totally convinced that we're on of them. If you were a heartless career, where's the first place you'd go?"

"My best weapon to show off and scare away weaker tributes," she replies instantly.

Good, she understands. "Exactly. I'll explain more later, but for now just act like a District Two tribute, okay?"

She nods. Wow. She must really be serious about this whole die for me thing because she's doing everything I say without asking questions. Did I mention that she's two years older than me?

"All right, it's ten o'clock, let's get started."

There are still five tributes missing, both from nine and three and the girl from five. Apparently punctuality _is_ key, because Atala is starting without them.

"There are twenty-four stations that you can train at. Food and healing are on the left, survival is on the right, and weapons and fighting techniques are on the far wall. Each station will have a trainer who is an expert in the field. You can go to any of the stations as you choose. Any combat with other tributes is strictly prohibited. At stations where practicing with a partner will be helpful, there will be assistants ready to work with you. Starting directly at your left and moving along the wall, these are the stations: Edible Insects, Fishing, Hunting, Purifying Water, Edible and Medicinal Plants, First Aid for Abrasions, First Aid for Breaks and Fractures, First Aid for Concussions and General Performance Enhancement, Archery, Axes, Battering Weapons, Dart Guns, Hand-to-hand Combat, Knives and Daggers, Spears and Tridents, Sword Fighting, Weights, Wrestling, Knot Tying, Camouflage, Climbing Trees, Fire Building, Running, and Shelters. Lunch will be served in the Dining Room next door at one o'clock."

As she names the stations, I make a schedule in my head: First, impress a career by kicking *ss at the trident and spears station. Next, learn how to use a dart gun. Most tributes ignore them, but many of the supply backpacks in the Cornucopia have them and Enobaria was able to win with one a few years back by dipping the darts in poison and shooting them into people's major arteries. That and ripping people's throats out with her teeth, but that's not relative. After that, catch up with Korey and tour the survival stations.

"You may begin training," Atala says.

I take off to the trident and spears station. Next door is the boy from District 2, impaling a dummy with a vicious looking dagger. When he sees me watching him, he nods.

"Hey District 4. Tridents, why am I not surprised?"

I smirk at him. "I could ask you the same thing. Knives and daggers?"

"Touché. So, what can you do with that trident?" he asks.

This is my moment. I have to get in with the careers, and the best way to impress one is to be crazy good with a particular weapon. For me, that particular weapon is a trident. When I turn to my right, I see Korey sword fighting against an assistant while the girl from One watches. Perfect.

"Kill you in three different ways," I say as I grab three tridents. I walk back to where a line marks fifteen meters, line up, and throw. The trident goes into the dummy's stomach and out the other side. Blood spurts and the eyes turn to X's. Dead. Walk forward five meters. Line up with a new dummy. Throw. Straight through the heart. Fake blood and X's. Dead. Up to five meters. Here's where I'll differentiate myself from every other kid from District 4 who's been trained. Line up. Throw. Left prong in the left eye, middle just above the bridge of the nose, right prong in the right eye. Fake blood. I can't tell whether the eyes have turned to X's or not, but I'm pretty d*mn sure that any person I did that to would be dead.

District 2 looks impressed. "You're good with a trident."

"Good? If these weren't more than twice as heavy as the one's we have at home I could do that from fifteen."

He raises an eyebrow. "Really?"

"No, I was just kidding," I snap, my voice dripping in sarcasm.

"We could always use one more excellent fighter in the Career Alliance…"

I smile inwardly. If only he knew what he was getting himself into. "I'm in."

He walks over and extends his hand. "Alexander Kinght**[2]**, 17 years old, District 2."

"Finnick Odair, 14 years old, District 4."

He seems surprised. "Your fourteen?"

I glare at him. "Yes, and I can still kick your *ss."

He smiles ever so slightly. "I like the attitude."

I roll my eyes. "I'm going to a station that I haven't already mastered. Later."

"Bye Finnick," he says.

**...**

When I approach the dart gun station, the trainer looks at me with something awfully close to awe. "You're amazing with a trident."

For some reason this annoys me. "I'm aware. Now how the h*ll do you use on of these?" I snap, gesturing at the different guns scattered across the table.

I guess he used to insolent tributes, because he is unfazed. "The Capitol uses varying guns every year, but they are usually extremely similar to this model," he says pointing at a long clear gun with orange accents**[3]**. I pick it up, and realize that it's not as light as it looks.

"Okay, so how do I use it?"

He takes it from me and removes several pieces, when he returns it to me it almost looks like the guns the Peacekeepers carry. "If you can master using it like this, then it will be incredibly easy when you have all the other stuff."

I nod. He picks up an identical model on the table, and points at a button on the towards the button. "This button releases the cartridge."

I push it, but nothing happens. "It's not working."

"First you have to pull the slide back," he says while demonstrating on his gun.

I try again with the slide back, and the cartridge comes out.

"This cartridge can hold six darts. After you shoot six times, you must insert a new clip, or put all six darts back in the clip."

I nod.

"After you reload, pull the slide forward again, and now you can shoot."

I do, and shoot at a target about two meters away. One ring away from the bulls-eye.

"Wow, your a natural. Have you ever used one of these before?"

"Nope." We don't have these back at the Training Center, they can only be found in the Capitol, and they are crazy expensive.

I aim and try to shoot again, but nothing happens.

"What the h*ll?"

"You have to bring up another dart. Pull the slide back."

Now the trigger doesn't move at all.

"That's the safety. Push the slide forward to turn it off."

I try again. Bulls eye.

"Nice shot. Now again."

Back, forwards, shoot. I keep going until the darts stop coming.

"Now you have to reload." He hands me a full cartridge and waits.

Crap, he's not going to show me.

Pull back, remove cartridge, insert cartridge, pull forward, shoot.

"Good job! Now for the rest of those parts."

He then shows me how to use the sight and tactile light to aim, add the stock to steady my shots and hold extra cartridges, and add the barrel extension.

By time he's finished, I am able to make the bulls eye 10 out of 10 times from three meters away.

As I leave to find Korey, he says, "Your the best student I've ever had. I hope you get one of these in the arena!"

I don't respond.

**...**

I find Korey at the Knot Tying station, working on a net. It's a fairly common one in District Four; strong and tightens as the trapped fish struggle. The girl from 12 is watching Korey while struggling with a Triple Bowline knot that we learn in elementary school at home. Despite myself and trying to appear egotistical, I find myself asking her, "Need help?"

She nods.

"Your start's right, you just need to take this ending piece and pull it behind the top before bringing it through the loop," I say, demonstrating.

She nods and brings her hand to her mouth, and then and then brings it down in an arc, a motion that even I recognize as the sign language for "thank you".

"Your welcome," I say, but an unspoken question hangs in the air, _Why can't she talk?_

She motions for a pen and paper, and I ask the trainer, who gives me a funny look, but passes me a pen and the corner off his training schedule.

She writes on the paper, "_My mom was an alcoholic while she was pregnant with me. She stopped around six months later, but it was too late, I was born with vocal cords that don't work._"

Wow. "Oh. I'm sorry."

She writes, "_It's okay. I've never been able to speak, so I'm used to using ASL and writing. I'm Alessandra by the way._"

"Finnick Odair."

She smiles. "_I know. My mentor was talking about you and your district partner. How the sexy mermaids were so much more impressive than us and how our stylists suck...he's right though, you looked way better than us._"

"Thanks," I say with an alluring smile.

An almost identical looking boy calls her name and gestures for her to come.

"_That's my brother, Alejandro. Gotta go, bye Finnick._"

"Bye Alessandra."

As soon as she's gone, I curse under my breath. Stupid, stupid, stupid, Finnick! Being mute is going to be a huge disadvantage for her, and she's going to die at some point, probably in the bloodbath. And after having a full conversation with her and knowing she's mute, I'm not sure if I'd be able to kill her in cold blood. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid!

"Hey Finnick, take a look."

I turn towards the voice to see that Korey has finished her net. You can tell she took her time on each individual knot. Not I, I don't have that kind of patience.

"Looks good. Gill net?"

"Sort of. It's made so your clothes get stuck in it. Then if you try to shake it off, the other side flips entangling you more."

I've worked on the docks for two years, and have been surrounded by fishing all my life, and I'm impressed. The trainer walks up to us.

"Nice snare."

Snare? He must see the confusion on our faces, because he clarifies, "A trap used to catch animals."

She nods. "Thanks."

"All tributes please stop your work! We will now be stopping for lunch in the dining room next door. Please put down all weapons and supplies. You will be able to resume after lunch finishes. No materials will be moved or touched while you are at lunch." Atala's voice echoes across the room, she's obviously using a microphone or some other technology. When I walk into the room, the girl from District 2 is pushing together three small tables to create one big one that seats six. The six traditional careers, Districts 1, 2, and 4. She waves Korey and I over, and we sit down.

They send four people at a time to get food in what they call "Buffet Style". They start with the lower districts and move up, so Korey and I get to know our future allies.

Gesturing at Alexander with my head, I say, "I saw this kid with a dagger earlier, but what about you?" to the girl from Two. I end the sentence with an out of place smirk, causing her to giggle. Yes, the girl from District 2 who must be 5'11" and almost 200 lbs. (all muscle) was reduced to giggling by my smirk. I wonder what a kiss could manipulate her into doing…

"Archery and hand to hand combat," she says gruffly.

Archery? Unconventional for a career, but just as efficient.

"What about you fish boy?"

"Tridents, spears, knives, and dart guns."

She looks at me incredulously. "Dart guns?"

"They're good for slowing someone down so you can get them with your better weapon without worrying about them running. And if the tips are dipped in poison, then they are a deadly stealth weapon."

She looks vaguely impressed. "Clever."

Exactly. Careers aren't used to seeing clever things, because the only person with half a brain who'd join the careers is someone planning to use them. That's the category Korey and I would fall under although I haven't had a chance to explain it to her yet.

The girl from District 1 glares at me.

"Do you have a problem you'd like to share with me?" I ask.

"Actually, I do. Your little girlfriend here says she can beat me with a sword."

I'm not sure what this has to do with me, but it's probably true. "You saw her with a sword, she probably can."

"Your sister said the same thing about her and knives, but Glamour was still able to kill her wasn't she?"

Any combat with other tributes is strictly prohibited. Any combat with other tributes is strictly prohibited. Any combat with other tributes is strictly prohibited. Any combat with other tributes is strictly prohibited. I think it over and over until I'm sure that I won't hit her for even bringing up my sister.

"If I remember correctly, doesn't Glamour use a wheelchair to this day because of my sister's knife work? And the fact that District 1 tributes have zero survival skills so she ended up with blood poisoning?" I know I shouldn't be trying to provoke her, but she started it with the comment about Lecia.

"Oh shut up fish boy. You know that District Four tributes are just as rich and pampered and ignorant as we are."

"Oh really?" If only she knew…

"Districts Four and Five, you can go get your food."

The "buffet" has a soup, salad, entree, and dessert from each district, for a total of forty-eight different items. Correction: Inspired by each district. I can count on one hand the number of plates that you could actually get from the district they're "from". I choose a corn chowder from home (We don't have corn), a garden salad from Eleven, some coconut shrimp from Seven (They _definitely _don't have shrimp in District 7 which is almost entirely landlocked), and ice cream from Ten (Produced in Capitol factories, all they have in Ten is the milk).

On the way back to our table, Korey whispers, "Looks like we're in."

I nod. This year's career pack will be like none before. Key word: none. When we return to the table District One girl is still glaring at us, but the rest of the careers welcome us with open arms as we discuss training and strategies. I even give them some tips about tridents. (Two of which are lies.) In return, they explain how to throw an axe. I won't be using an axe in the arena unless somehow I get sent one, (I don't do axes, remember?) so the information is useless, but I smile and thank them anyway.

"Tributes you may return to the gymnasium. You have four and a half hours left for today's training."

After talking to the rest of the careers, we decide that the District One tributes will stay at weapons, Two will go to food and healing, and we will go to survival. Perfect, that's what we planned to do anyway.

**...**

We end up touring all of the survival stations before training ends. I'm good at knot-tying (no sh*t), running, and shelters, but camouflage and fire building are a stretch, and I completely fail at tree climbing. I think the trainer said, "You run really fast, so your inability to climb trees shouldn't be much of a problem." Thanks for the vote of confidence. When we walk into dinner I'm annoyed to be there, because I don't feel any want or need to see anyone in that room, and because I want to talk to Korey so I can tell her about the careers and find out about her token. Dinner is completely uneventful, _none_ of us really want to be there so we all just make a lame attempt at small talk about training. The only time Elesah speaks to me is when she is yelling at me to finish dessert. It is a compote**[4]** in a fancy container decorated with a fisherman carved of chocolate. He's obviously stilt fishing, and on his stilt is an 80 carat aquamarine (That's 16 grams of precious mineral). Apparently not finishing a $14,500 dessert is not acceptable, not even in the Capitol. At least I get to keep the aquamarine. That could be used for a good ring one day, assuming I don't die in the arena. As soon as it's gone, I take the stone and leave, motioning for Korey to follow me to my room. We have a lot to discuss…

**...**

She sits down on my bed and I take the armchair.

"First of all, with the careers. What I was thinking was we join the careers and then take watch together on the first day. Once they're all asleep we take as much of the supplies as we can carry and sneak off, lighting everything else on fire before we go."

"How are we going to light the extra stuff on fire?"

"Matches. I'm sure there will be some in one of the supply bags, and if not I'm sure our generous sponsors will help us out. If we can't destroy the stuff that's fine, but it would help because careers are stupid and they won't be able to find food or water. They always rely on Capitol supplies, and we'll be getting rid of the Capitol supplies."

"Wow. That's really…shrewd."

I smirk. "I'm more than just a pretty face…"

She rolls her eyes. "Trust me, I figured that out after I saw you with a trident that first time in the Training Center."

I smile. "Good times."

**...**

**TWO YEARS EARLIER (FINNICK - 12, KOREY - 14.5)**

_I walk into my new weapons class early, scoping out the competition. After blowing all of the kids my age out of the water, I ended up in a class with kids two years older than me. The only person who'd even acknowledged me was a tall girl with dark black hair and a scrutinizing stare. She raises an eyebrow at me._

"_Who the h*ll are you and why are you here?"_

"_Finnick Odair, and I've been promoted to this class."_

"_And your what, ten?"_

"_Twelve," I say through clenched teeth._

"_Twelve?" she scoffs. "You're not gonna make it here."_

"_You just watch and see," I say before spinning on my heel and stalking off._

_At the beginning of the class the instructor introduces me and asks me to show the class my best skill. Trident. I choose one and back up to the ten meter line. I thrust the trident, and it goes right through the heart, a perfect kill. I look back at the girl and she seems impressed. Good._ _The instructor _is_ impressed. He should be. I go through the motions during the class, performing pretty well, even though I'm two years younger than anyone else. At the end, I go find the girl, and stand in front of her with my arms crossed until she says, "Okay, okay, your good with a trident."_

"_Good?"_

"_Amazing."_

_I nod. "That's more like it."_

_She rolls her eyes. "And I'm Korey Kassidy by the way."_

_I nod, and she walks away. After that we formed a "frenemy" relationship. We were great combat partners and sometimes we would talk about various things happening in the district, but other times she could be quite narcissistic, and honestly quite easy. Guys fell all over her and she was well...you get the picture. We were it, the best. And that brought us together in a way that words couldn't._

**...**

"Okay, so about my token,' she says as she slowly opens the clasp on the back and takes of the necklace, bringing me out of my reverie.

"My little sister gave this to me for my fourteenth birthday, two days before she drowned."

I look at her and see a fat tear rolling down her cheek. "I'm sorry."

She shakes her head. "She saved up money for six months to buy the stone. A half carat tanzanite I think. From Branson."

I scowl at the creepy victor's name. I think everyone is the District does. Although the women in the Capitol half his age love him. She must notice the look on my face because she says, "I know. The rest are fakes, but I never cared. My little sister and I were always close because we were ostracized by the rest of our family. My older sister was the "perfect" child, whereas both me and my sister had our own issues. My mental/emotional, hers physical. I was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome when I was five. That's why I keep to myself at the Center. It's never been a problem at school for me, it's social stuff. Eventually my parents stopped taking me to stuff because I was 'An embarrassing screw up that made them look like jack*sses.'"

At this point the tears are falling freely. I move to the bed and take her hand and she continues her story.

"I probably could have learned all that stuff, but they just gave up on me. So to this day I don't do much. When everyone meets at the pier, I'm not there. Because it's not even worth it to me anymore. But moving on with the story, my little sister was born when I was three. By the time she turned five, it was obvious she had some kind of muscular disorder, and none of the doctors knew what it was. Five years later, she was confined to a wheel chair. According to the doctors, her condition was affecting her lungs, and she shouldn't be expected to live past thirty, even on expensive medication. As soon as my dad heard this, he stopped caring about Chrissy. He'd still give her medicine and tell her stories at night, but the light in his eyes and the caring in his voice had disappeared. At first my mom tried to be the best she could for Chrissy, but it was too emotionally challenging, and eventually she started acting just like dad. So Chrissy and I started to look out for each other. She'd let me hang out with her friends and try to explain to me the social norm, and I'd help her with her therapy and medicine. So although the rest of our family excluded us, we were closer than ever."

For the first time since she started talking, Korey looks up at me. I'm sure she can see the pity in my eyes, and the Korey I knew would have hated it. But the Korey I knew isn't the Korey I see now, so who knows how she's reacting to it.

She looks away as she continues, "My sister gave me the necklace for my birthday, and I loved it. Because of her sickness she couldn't work on the boats like I did when I wasn't busy with school or training, but she kept the logs for us and did all the trading. The money that the stone for this necklace would have cost is what one of us makes in six months. And I couldn't believe she would spend it like that. But she did. The next day we set out for a five day trip on the water to celebrate. Although she couldn't swim, she was always mesmerized by the water, and she could spend hours sitting in her wheelchair staring at the water outside the boat. She was sitting there, and I left to get some stuff out of my cabin, I don't even remember what it was. But when I came back she was gone. And her wheelchair was still there. And she couldn't swim. I dove into the water searching, and I found her, one of her ankles stuck in a net. I pulled her out and did CPR, but it wasn't working. I knew that this didn't necessarily mean she was dead, so I told my parents and we took her to the hospital. But you know the Survival Rule of Three, one can survive three minutes without oxygen, three hours without warmth, three days without water, and three weeks without food? The doctors pronounced her dead, saying she had been under for at least ten minutes. And you know how f—ed up my parents are? After her funeral two days later, all they say is, 'At least we won't have to buy that expensive medicine anymore.' I mean what kind of f—ing *sshole says that when their sick daughter dies?"

I am rendered speechless. That doesn't happen to me often. But how do you answer that?

When the sobs begin to wrack her body, I instinctively wrap one arm around her. A little voice in the back of my head tells me I shouldn't be touching her like this when I have a girlfriend, but I push it away. The girl's having a complete emotional breakdown, and I'm trying to comfort her.

As the tears subside, she looks up at me and says, "I'm sorry Finnick. I wasn't even planning to tell you all this because I don't want your pity to change how you treat me."

"It won't," I whisper into her ear. "I promise."

She gives me a grateful half smile.

I brush a piece of hair out of her eye. "Get some sleep, we have training bright and early tomorrow and punctuality is key," I say, mimicking Elesah's shrill voice for the last part.

She laughs. "There's something weird about hearing that voice come out of your mouth."

"Are you dissing my beautiful voice," I say with fake offense still in Elesah's voice.

She laughs again. "Night Finnick. Oh, Odalys told me to let you know that the Reaping recaps are going to be on again tonight if you want to see them."

"Okay, thanks. Night Korey," I reply, winking, as I walk out the door.

I do end up watching the reaping recaps, but there's only one tribute on that screen that I'm focused on. And that's Korey.

1 Based on Nike Trainer 1 Unleashed Low iD shoes. Go to http(colon)(backlsah)(backslash)flic(dot)kr(backslash)p(backslash)9RCvT9 to see Finnick's shoes (Yes I actually designed a pair like the ones I described and no I did not buy them)

2 Not a typo

3 Based on the Nerf N-Strike Clear Recon CS-6

4 This is a real dessert on the list of most expensive desserts in the world. A compote is most simply described as fruit cooked in a sugar syrup.

**...**

**FOOTNOTES**

**1.** Based on Nike Trainer 1 Unleashed Low iD shoes. Go to http(colon)(backlsah)(backslash)flic(dot)kr(backslash)p(backslash)9RCvT9 to see Finnick's shoes (Yes I actually designed a pair like the ones I described and no I did not buy them)

**2.** Not a typo

**3.** Based on the Nerf N-Strike Clear Recon CS-6

**4.** This is a real dessert on the list of most expensive desserts in the world. A compote is most simply described as fruit cooked in a sugar syrup.

**...**

**A/N: I'm so incredibly sorry that it took this long. I have had finals like everyone else, and I'm starting a PJO story (You won't see this online anytime soon. I learned the hard way with this story not to post until you have several chapters written.) If you can get back to me soon I may be able to include your tribute, but I need to know ASAP for interviews. Also any name suggestions are welcome (I'm running out of ideas). Reviewers get shout outs at the beginning, and my greatest appreciation. I don't care how often you review, you can send five reviews for each chapter if you'd like, don't be afraid to annoy me; YOU WON'T as long as the reviews are related to the story and you say something well thought out. This story has passed 15,000 words (yay!). So please review, favorite, and subscribe, and hopefully have the next chapter up relatively soon (This is one of the few chapters I've planned, I usually don't plan or outline or anything...although I already have the end of this story and the beginning of the sequel...) Thanks for your support!**

**Please review, I really appreciate the feedback!**

**-cindella204**


	9. Part I Chapter 8

**SHOUT OUTS:**

**Special thanks to "SonofHell666", "DaughterofHell666", "Surfgirl7806", and "sparklegem108" for reviewing the previous chapter!**

**...**

**DISCLAIMER:**

**There are several concepts, characters, and real life things that I use and/or mention in this chapter that I don't own. These include but are not limited to the Hunger Games, Finnick Odair, Gamemakers, Atala, and avoxes.**

**...**

**A/N: Sorry this took so incredibly long! My computer broke, so I literally typed this up on my iPhone and posted it using someone else's computer. This chapter is Gamemaker sessions, the next is the interviews, and after that Finnick and Korey will enter the arena! Please review to get a shout out above and my greatest appreciation!**

**...**

**IN THIS CHAPTER: **Moderate adult language, mil violence, mild sexual reference

**...**

**CHAPTER 8**

The next day Korey and I tour the rest of the stations for food, survival, and healing. The only things I really had problems with were the same survival stations from the day before, Camouflage, Fire Building, and Tree climbing. According to the camouflage trainer, "There's no way to disguise these radiant green eyes." The fire building trainer didn't really care that I was failing at her station because I'd obviously be getting sponsors. Tree climbing wasn't much of an issue either because I could outrun any threat. The third day, we did last minute weapons training for three hours before lunch. After our thirty minutes of allotted lunch time, Atala begins to call tributes to their private sessions with the Gamemakers starting with the guy from District 1.

The girl from District 3 just got called. I'm next. And I have no clue what I'm going to do except for the fact that it will involve tridents.

"Finnick Odair," Atala calls.

Crap. This is it.

She walks me to the door of the gymnasium, and then whispers, "Good Luck." before turning and leaving.

I walk into the gymnasium staring at the floor as I try to think of what I want to do. And then I see the lines marking the meters from the target wall. And I have an idea.

I grab four weapons from the back wall, a spear, a trident, a throwing knife, and a dart gun. I place four dummies next to each other, and then one slightly off to the side. The weapons go on the ground at multiples of three meters, dart gun at three, knife at six, trident at nine, spear at twelve. I then run to the other side of the gym, grabbing a fifty pound weight while I'm at it. I hurl it at a window, causing it to shatter, and twenty four heads turn toward me. Perfect. I sprint across the room, covering fifty meters in about five seconds, and stop quickly as I approach my first weapon, the spear. I pick it up, aim, and launch it at the dummy. Since I haven't practiced much from this distance it isn't the greatest shot, but it goes through the stomach and "kills" the dummy. Sprint three meters to the trident. Line up, throw. Left prong in the left eye, middle above the bridge of the nose, right in the right eye. Perfect shot. Dead. Sprint three meters to the knife. Line up and throw. Straight through the heart. Dead. Three more meters. Pick up the dart gun. Turn on the red light and flip up the sight. Aim. Shoot. Right through the heart. Back, forward, shoot. Left eye. Back, forward, shoot. Right eye. Back, forward, shoot. Bridge of the nose. Back, forward, shoot. Mouth. Throw down the gun and sprint to the last dummy. Hand to hand combat. Punch it in the face. Kick its ankle out. It falls on it's back. Stomp on it's ankle hard. Kick the head. Strangle it. One, two, three,...sixty, sixty-one,...one hundred twenty, one hundred twenty-one,...one hundred seventy-nine, one hundred eighty. Three minutes, definitely dead. I stand up and walk over to the Gamemakers, who all look impressed. The Head Gamemaker, Carson Pierce, says, "You are dismissed now, Finnick." I nod and walk out of the gym.

I enter the dining room to have Mags immediately ask me about training.

"What did you do?"

"Spear, trident, knife, dart gun, hand to hand combat."

"All of that?"

"One shot with each except for the dart gun, five with that."

"Good, very good. You showed them that you could kill many different ways."

"Mhmm," I say out loud, but in my head I'm thinking, _Since when is being a capable murderer a good thing?_.

Mags doesn't say anything else, and neither do I until Korey walks in, a prideful grin spread across her face.

"How'd it go Korey," I ask.

"Awesome! You?"

I smile. "Same."

Mags smiles at our enthusiasm. "Dinner will be served at five. Until then the time is yours. No fornicating."

Did she really just say no _fornicating_**[1]**?

"I have a girlfriend at home!" I say in utter disbelief.

She holds up her hands in defense. "I've been mentoring for fifty-four years. I have had more than one set of tributes do it."

"What the h*ll?" I say at the same moment that that Korey says, "D*mn."

"Yeah. So run along now," she says waving her hand in a "go away" gesture, and I follow Korey out of the room.

"Where to?" I ask.

"My stylist said we should check out the rooftop. He said, and I quote, "It's a great place for re-kindling a fallen romantic relationship."

"What do they have up there, roses and calming flute music?" I ask incredulously.

"I don't know, but we have nothing _better_ to do," she says pointedly.

"Touché. Lead the way."

As we enter the rooftop garden, I must admit that it is pretty. Irlissa would like it here. Irlissa. I wonder how she's doing...

"Finnick are you even listening to me?"

Whoops, Korey must have been talking to me.

"Huh?"

She rolls her eyes. "What were you thinking about?"

No point in lying to her. "Irlissa."

"Ah."

I don't respond, and she doesn't say anything, but it is a comfortable silence.

"This sucks," Korey says.

I snort. "Your just figuring that out?"

"No. I was just thinking, and the Capitol is going to force us to kill_ other kids_."

"Your doing it for your own survival."

"I know. I don't know about you, but even though I've been trained for it I have a feeling that it will be hard."

"Of course it will! It will be hard for anyone who's actually human."

She raises an eyebrow but doesn't reply. And she has a point. If I want to come home, I will have to take people's lives with my own hands. And for every life I end there will be little kids at home, just like me six years ago, who will never see their older siblings again. Parents like my mother who will cry at the sight of their child's death. And it will be my fault. The thought makes me want to cry, so I decide to strike up a conversation with Korey just to prevent myself from thinking about it.

"Looking forward to interviews tomorrow?"

She scowls. "No. I hate Elesah and I hate my prep team, why would I?"

I nod. "My makeup artist is nice, but my skin prep lady wants to screw me, my hair stylist's voice is _way_ too high and my main stylist is just a bipolar creeper."

She rolls her eyes. "My main stylist is an LSD addict. She walked in on the first day talking about the pretty colors."

"She was working on you high?" I ask disbelievingly.

"She was coming down, but still."

That _sucks_.

"Why am I not surprised?"

"Because this is the Capitol."

"It was a rhetorical question," I say, giving her a look.

"Oh...sorry. This is the kind of stuff I was talking about last night."

Sh*t, I totally forgot about that already. "It's fine."

Awkward silence.

"I'm gonna go shower before dinner," I say.

She nods. "See you then."

"Fin-nick it's dinner time!" squeaky voice sings outside my door.

I swing open the door and walk past Elesah toward the Dining Room without acknowledging her. I'm not in the mood for her, granted, I'm never in the mood for her. Korey is the only one seated at the table. She's been extra careful about being on time since the incident two days ago.

"Hey," I say as I sit down next to her.

She smiles at me but says nothing.

"Do you know what time they air the scores?"

"Eight," she replies. "The last session is from 7:15 to 7:30. Not that the District 12 tributes ever last that long."

I think of Alessandra. This is one of the few times when being mute won't hurt her. The real issue will be tomorrow at the interviews.

"Where are your mentors?" Elesah asks glaring at us.

Korey makes a face. "Why the h*ll would we know?" she snaps, giving me a questioning look, as if to say, _Was that okay?_

I nod slightly and mouth, "_You're fine._"

Elesah looks enraged. "Because they're _your_ mentors!"

I see Mags and Odalys walking down the hallway toward us, and using my best sarcastic voice I say, "I know! They're right behind you."

When she sees that they actually are behind us she scowls at me.

I feign innocence. "What? They are. Aren't they Korey?"

She nods, but I can tell she's trying really hard not to laugh.

Elesah glares at me again. "Screw _you_, Odair.

I smirk. "You know you want to."

Korey loses it and bursts out laughing. The rage on Elesah's face makes me burst out laughing too, and she gives us both dirty looks before she stomps out of the dining room.

"What did you two do to Elesah?" Mags asks as she sits down across from us.

"Nothing..." we both reply.

She chuckles and shakes her head. "Uh huh. She had a fit like that for no reason."

"Yep!" Korey responds.

Mags rolls her eyes.

As the avoxes serve dinner, we discuss training and different strategies for specific weapons and tools. Elesah never returns, so we can actually have a decent conversation, and none of us realize how long we have been talking until Odalys says, "It's 7:57, we should probably get set up for the recaps."

As we walk into the Television Room, we are greeted by Elesah saying, "I figured that you District losers wouldn't be able to figure out how to turn the TV on."

Korey grabs my wrist before I can go over there and punch her, and doesn't let go, despite me trying to pry her fingers off of me. I glare at her and she raises an eyebrow; she's really good at reading people for someone with Asperger's. Or maybe I'm just really bad at hiding my anger.

Odalys smacks Elesah across the face _hard _and she stumbles back. "I figured an stupefying Capitol person like you would be able to take a hit like that," he snarls.

She resets the TV to our usual viewing settings and then storms out. Again.

Korey and I both look at each other but say nothing.

The national anthem blares and the same announcers from the Opening Ceremonies appear.

"Welcome to the 65th Broadcasting of Training Scores!" says blue guy.

"Let's get started!"

"Obsidian Grantzon, District One..."

Some lame drumroll sound effect plays as his face appears on the screen

"...Eight!"

"Diamond Lazeon, District One..."

Drumroll.

"...Seven."

Seven? Pretty low for a career.

"Alexander Kinight, District Two..."

Drumroll.

Korey looks at me nervously.

I raise an eyebrow, but don't bother to say anything.

"...Nine."

That's more like it for an obvious career.

"Granite Kalizon, District Two..."

Oh. My. Flipping. God. I. Need. My. Score.

"...Eight."

"Kristin Ackerman, District Three..."

Kristen? I thought Kristen was a girls name.

"...Five."

Not surprising. That's actually pretty good for a non-career.

"Electra Shields, District Three..."

Holy sh*t I'm next.

"...Three."

This is it.

"Finnick Odair, District Four..."

Oh. My. God.

"...Eleven."

My mouth drops open but no one tells me to close it. I got an eleven. The maximum score is twelve, but no one in the history of the Games has gotten one of those, so eleven is pretty much a perfect score.

Korey looks like she's about to faint.

"Korey Kassidy, District Four..."

Korey takes my hand, and I let her.

"...Ten."

I pull her into a hug, which she returns.

As I pull away, I say, "District Four is gonna kick *ss this year!" and even Odalys smiles.

Per Mags request we watch the rest of the broadcast, but Korey and I are too giddy over our own scores to really care what anyone else is getting, so we talk through most of it. I think District 6 gets fives or sixes, either way we totally crushed them. Alessandra got a seven and her brother got a two. I have no idea what she did to get the same score as the girl from District 1 who is trained, but according to Mags it's never happened before. But who cares about them? Korey and I have the looks, and the skills, now we just need the personality. And that'll happen tomorrow, in the interviews.

**...**

**FOOTNOTES**

**1. **Fornicating: Having pre-marital sex

**...**

**A/N: Definitely not my best, and if there are a lot of errors my digital proofreader that is almost as good as a human is no longer available. (Computer crashed, using iPhone with plug-in standard keyboard to type this up). Sorry about that! I hope you enjoyed this chapter regardless. Next up is interviews, and I can't wait! Hopefully the Finnick your waiting to see will be in that chapter. The Arena will be coming soon! Thanks for all your support, and I'll keep working on chapters although they'll be coming slower because of the whole no working computer issue. I have to borrow to update...PLEASE REVIEW! EVEN IF YOU REVIEWED THE LAST CHAPTER, PLEASE REVIEW AGAIN! AND AGAIN! AND...I think you get the idea :D**

**-cindella204**


	10. Part I Chapter 9

**A/N: SPECIAL THANKS TO SONOFHELL666 AND IFWEBURNYOUBURNWITHUS FOR REVIEWING! This chapter is interviews, Finnick and Korey enter the arena in the next chapter! Still on the phone/iPad, sorry about crazy typos and slowness.**

* * *

><p><strong>DISCLAIMER: ANYTHING YOUR RECOGNIZE BELONGS TO SUZANNE COLLINS AND HER PUBLISHER! THAT INCLUDES BUT IS NOT LIMITED TO FINNICK ODAIR, CAESAR FLICKERMAN, MAGS, AND THE CONCEPT OF THE HUNGER GAMES.<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>IN THIS CHAPTER<strong>: STRONG Adult Language (6 f-bombs; Sorry guys!), Moderate Sexual Themes, Mentions of death and violence

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER 9<strong>

_Glamour throws her axe, but this time it's me in the arena instead of my sister. I watch as my blood saturates the ground, and then a wave of ice cold water comes over me._

_Wait, what?_

I bolt upright to see Korey smirking at me with an empty bucket in her hand.

"Morning Finnick!" she squeals, mimicking Elesah's voice.

"Morning Korey!" I say matching her tone. "Now what the h*ll was that for and what time is it?"

"9:45, Mags asked me to wake you up."

"Why didn't Elesah wake me up?"

"'Cause she's still on strike. Now get your lazy *ss out of bed and go take a shower. We're waiting."

I flip her off but get up and head to the bathroom.

She just rolls here eyes at me before leaving my room.

* * *

><p>When I enter the dining room breakfast is already over and Elesah is seated at the end of the table glaring at her plate.<p>

"Slacking on your duties today Elesah. I didn't get my personal wake up call."

She looks up at me. "F*** you Finnick."

I flip my hair and give a tantalizing smile. "You know you want to."

She glares at me again. "Can you shut your mouth so we can get on with things?"

She asked for it. "That's what she said!"**1**

Korey and Odalys burst out laughing and even Mags chuckles a bit.

Elesah's face turns bright red and her hands clench into fists. "Finnick if you don't shut the f*** up I swear I'm gonna kick you oh so sensual *ss from here to next month!"

I raise an eyebrow. "You think my *ss is sexy ?"

I guess she's starting to wise up because she doesn't respond, just shoots me a dirty look.

Finnick - 4, Elseah - 0. I win.

"So, the interviews are tonight. Each of you will spend four hours with me and Odalys working on content and four hours with Elesah for stage presence," Mags says. "Finnick you'll be in content first, Korey you'll be in stage."

Poor Korey. Not that I'd switch with her. As she follows Elesah out of the dining room I meet her eyes and mouth "_Good Luck_". She nods and mouths, "_You too_".

After she's gone, Mags says, "We are planning on you and Korey having the same angles, Sexy, Clever, and Overconfident."

I smile. This'll be easy, all of those are completely natural.

"We really want you to play up sexy, you've got the body, use it, but make sure it's evident that you have a brain," Odalys adds.

I nod.

"I'm going to ask questions. Answer them using those angles."

I nod and she begins.

"So Finnick, what do you think of the Capitol?"

Easy. "The food's great, the rooms are pretty nice, but what I'm most surprised about is that there are a whole bunch of ladies who look almost as good as me," I say winking at the table where the audience would be.

Mags and Odalys look impressed. "Perfect answer, just try to say it sexier."

I raise an eyebrow and repeat the answer, but this time it's more of a purr.

"Awesome. Next question. Both you and Korey looked amazing at the Opening Ceremonies? Any comments?"

"I think I made people happy, and I'm glad."

Mags nods. "Good. How was training?"

"Awesome. I got to see my competition in action for the first time, and learn some new weapons."

"Like?"

"Not saying. All will be revealed in the arena."

"I suppose that means you won't tell us how you got an eleven in training either?"

I cross my arms and shake my head.

"Nope."

Mags huffs in a very childish way and I bite my lip to keep from laughing. "Fine. Next question. What mistakes did your sister make in the arena that your not going to make in order to win?"

I give her in an incredulous look. What the h*ll?

"He'll definitely say something about Lecia and you need to be prepared to answer it."

I glare at her but answer the stupid question. "I'm going to use the element of surprise to my advantage instead of calling out for a fair fight. Life isn't fair."

She nods. Good.

"The ladies would kill me if I didn't ask. is there a special someone at home?"

"Yes. I've been with my wonderful girlfriend Irlissa Vandyerlin for six months and I love her."

She continues to ask questions, most of them personal since I struggle with those the most, until an angry Korey walks into the room saying it's time for lunch.

* * *

><p>"Roll your feet Finnick, roll your feet! You walk like a freakin' elephant!" Elesah screams at me.<strong>2<strong>

She has me in a tuxedo practicing walking. Back home I was always either barefoot or in sandals, and either way you don't roll your feet nearly as much as you are supposed to in these shoes. It's been almost thirty minutes and I'm still doing it "completely and totally wrong".

"Okay forget the walking technique just walk over to this chair and try to look sexy," she says exasperated by my lack of talent in the walking department.

I saunter over to the chair and sit.

Giving an arrogant smirk when I look up at her.

"Good. Now for sitting. Your chair in the actual interview is going to be very similar to this one. Lean back."

I do.

"More."

As I apply my weight the chair moves back with me.

"Okay you can stop now. Cross your arms and give me a bored look."

"Am I still being sexy?"

"Finnick you're being sexy from the moment that Caesar Flickerman welcomes the audience to the 65th interviews until you get back in the Training Center."

I nod, and then get into the pose she mentioned.

"Good, very good."

"Now body language and hand gestures. I'm going to ask you a 'sensitive' question and I want to see if you can answer it staying in character."

Oh boy.

"Your very own sister died in the Games. What are you doing to make sure you don't end up with the same fate?"

"What's up with that f*****g question? Mags asked the same thing like it's really necessary to bring up my dead sister! Did you guys plan this?"

She raises an eyebrow. "That's what you'd tell Caesar if he asked you that question?"

"No."

"Then let's try again. Your very own sister died in the Games. What are you doing to make sure you don't end up with the same fate?"

"I'm not going to tell you that because if the other tributes knew it wouldn't work would it?"

She nods. "Much better. Now for your facial expressions."

We spend another hour practicing looking sexy, walking sexy, sitting sexy, and talking sexy. I can't help but think of what my mother would say to see this.

"Okay Finnick. Also, tomorrow night after the recaps betting parties will start all over the Capitol. You want people to put their money on you, because those same people will sponsor you for the sake of not losing a bet."

No freaking comment.

"So your interview needs to be good, most importantly your final remark. Think of something striking that will sum up your angle, goals, and expectations in one sentence."

"Okay."

"Time for dinner," she says and I follow her out wordlessly, lost in my own thought. She seemed pretty content considering the way I p*ssed her off this morning. Weird.

* * *

><p>"Morning Finnick," Jayde says I walk into the prep room the next day. Her and Ira are standing by the sink mixing chemicals. Fantastic, I thought I got that over with before Opening Ceremonies.<p>

"Aliss and Cayne had an umm...'accident' so to speak last night so it'll just be me and Ira."

Ira mutters something under his breath rather loudly but I tune him out because whatever happened I don't want to know.

Jayde shushes him and hands me a robe. "Change into this you can leave your underwear on."

Hal-le-lu-jah. I oblige and sit down in a chair where Ira is waiting to wash my hair. After he finishes, he adds a thick paste and tells me it has to sit for an hour before walking out.. Meanwhile Jayde shows me the design she created last night. And it involves large amounts of makeup.

"Really?"

She ignores my lack of enthusiasm and says, "I really thought this would look good on you."

She has used gray eyeliner and eyeshadow to create sinister looking shadows across my eyelids and make my eyes look even brighter than normal.**3** When I look up at her I see something unexpected in here eyes fear. I would understand hope, want, maybe even anger because I just dissed her design. But no. Fear. And then it clicks.

"You didn't come up with this design and you don't even want to use it."

Her eyes widen slightly. "No, no, it was-"

"Jayde you can cut the bullish*t now, it's too late. If I have to wear the good*mn makeup anyway I should at least know who's fault it is."

She sighs running her hands through her long black bangs. "Cayne."

What? Cayne's not effin' here, who gives a sh*t what she wants?

I voice these thoughts.

Her face pales and she looks away from me, out the window. "Finnick, she's going to watch the recaps. And if your not wearing it, I'm going to pay."

"Oh boo hoo Jayde! Your putting this sh*t on me just because your afraid of getting yelled at by your boss?"

She whirls on me and rage quickly replaces the pity in her blood red eyes.

"You. Don't. Know. Cayne. I'm sorry if you don't feel comfortable in makeup but I have no choice! You looked great in Opening Ceremonies because of Cayne and I plan to do the same tonight, but right now you need to f*****g get over yourself!" she yells before storming away to the window.

I don't know what to say, but just then Ira walks in. He blinks once when he sees Jayde fuming at the window, but doesn't say anything about it. "Come on over to the sink Finnick."

I walk across the room wordlessly and take a seat. Ira washes my hair, applies "volumizing mousse" (whatever the h*ll that is), styles it, and then seals the look with hairspray and styling wax, leaving me with a "messy on purpose" look.

"Your set Finnick. Good luck tonight," he says and leaves. Jayde doesn't look like she's planning on coming to me, so I walk over there. "What now?"

She is still staring out the window as she speaks.

"You need to eat before I put makeup on you. Order something over there, they'll make you whatever you want."

I order clam chowder. It's not that good, the clam is overcooked and rubbery. That's what I get for trying to get Four food in the Capitol. Jayde doesn't speak and neither do I, so I end up eating in total silence.

After I finish I walk over to the window and stand next to Jayde, looking out at the city. Color is overused in the Capitol. Especially pink. Here pink is the new black. Even the streets are pink.

"Jayde."

She ignores me.

"Jayde."

Ignored. Grr.

"Jayde, please."

She turns slowly and for the first time I notice the ruined makeup and red rimmed eyes. She's been crying. And that's when I first realize how young she is. She couldn't be more than eighteen. "Jayde, I-"

She glares at me. "I don't want the pity Finnick. You don't want to do this, I don't want to do this, so let's just do it and get it over with!"

"That's-" I stop myself. Now is not the time for sex jokes.

"What?"

"Nothing. Look I'm sorry, okay? You're right, I have no right to judge because I don't know Cayne. So tell me. Why? Will you at least tell me why?"

She sighs. "Fine but I need to start on you now, we're running out of time. Be right back."

I nod as she walks out the door.

She returns with several black boxes and a bunch of brushes. Oh Lord.

She starts to tell her story as she applies foundation and concealer. "In order for you to get the whole Cayne story I need to tell you a bit about my personal life. Two years ago, when I was 16, my dad kicked me out. I had a change of clothes, my cell phone and iPod, and a hundred dollars."

My mouth drops open.

"A hundred dollars? I've never see that much money together in my entire life. And what's a cell phone. And an iPod?"

"Here in the Capitol a hundred dollars would last you about a week. And that's if you ate cheap food. A cell phone is like a regular telephone except it fits in your pocket and you can take it anywhere."

Woah.

"And an iPod is another device and you use it to play music."

"So it's like an instrument?"

"No." She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a little square the size of my thumbnail and a cord. "You put these in your ears and then you talk to it and you can choose any song."

Again, woah.

"So anyway moving on with the story, I was on the street and I desperately needed a job and they were hiring Hunger Games stylists. I was going to school for cosmetology-"

"Wha?"

"Makeup."

"Ah."

"Yeah. So I figured I could become a makeup artist. The only spots left were Districts Four and Twelve. Of course I choose Four. But the Games weren't for three months and I needed money. So I talked to Cayne and she loaned me the money quite happily. But you know that saying, 'There's no such thing as free lunch'? I think it was Greek. But anyway, she gave me the money but when the Games came around she basically made me do her job. I picked out all the outfits, went to all the events with the tributes, I did everything. Every year I hit a dead zone that same time period because my small salary from the Victory Tour is over and the Games haven't started yet. So every year she loans me money and ever year I act as her servant during the Games. And she has me do some _other stuff_ too," she says biting her lower lip.

"Like?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

_That _kind of other stuff.

"Makeup's done," she says halfheartedly.

I look in the mirror and I'm surprised to see it doesn't look quite as scary as I expected.

"I went heavy on the eyeshadow and light on the eyeliner since I new you weren't comfortable with the obvious stuff."

I would never choose to wear it, but it's definitely not as bad as I expected. And it definitely makes my green eyes look _really really_ bright. And kinda sexy.**3**

"Okay let's get you in your outfit. Be right back."

When she returns with a bunch of hangers in some kind of fabric protector and a pair of black and teal running shoes. Huh

"I'm really having you dress down." She lines up the outfit on the table. A pair of LunarGlides**4** with teal accents, bootcut black denim jeans, and a dark blue flannel worn open.

"With nothing under it?"

"Yeah we need sexyness, remember?"

"Right."

"Go ahead and put this stuff on, I'm gonna go get the tattoo paint."

Tattoo paint? I don't have any skin showing. I'm sure Jayde knows what she's doing though. I pull on the pants and shoes, and then put on the flannel, looking at myself in the full length mirror. Huh, not bad.

Jayde walks back in with several thin paint brushes and a large box of paints.

"I'm gonna do the scene on your chest first because that'll take the longest to dry."

Scene on my chest?

"I'm going to need you flat so take the shirt off and come lie down over here," she says gesturing towards a long metal table with a foam cover on top. I lie down and she opens the paints, mixing them on a piece of plastic before she begins to paint on my stomach. Somehow I manage to fall asleep...

* * *

><p>"Finnick!"<p>

I sit up quickly and look around. Oh right the prep room, interviews.

"I'm done, go put your shirt on and take a look in the full length."

I slip on the shirt and walk across the room to the full length mirror.

Woah.

Anywhere my skin shows is covered in a simple pattern that resembles waves except my chest and a portion of my face around my right eye. On my chest and stomach she has beautifully painted a scene of the beach at sunset. On the right part of my face is a patch of glitter the exact same color as my eyes, and somehow it doesn't mess up the makeup I'm already wearing.**5** I'm definitely not too thrilled about the glitter, but all in all it looks good. Really good.

Jayde points at a chair across the room and says, "I want you to walk over to the chair, sit down, and look up at me, being as sexy as possible."

I saunter to the chair, sit, and look up at her.

She whistles long and low. "Woah. Too bad your four years younger than me."

I smirk at her and she laughs. "Let's go meet Korey and Flicka in the lobby."

"Flicka?" I ask.

"Korey's stylist."

"Ah."

When we get to the lobby, Korey, Flicka, Mags, Odalys, and Elesah are already waiting, but my eyes automatically zero in on Korey, and I only have one thought.

D*mn.

She has the same makeup and tattoos as I do, but she is wearing a short silver dress and wedges that look like they're made of crystal and glass.

She walks over to me and says, "Holy sh*t Finnick. A fourteen year old should not be capable of looking that sexy."

I smirk and watch as she bends over to fix her shoe. Nice view there. At this point I'm thinking things I guy with a girlfriend _should not_ be thinking, but I manage to keep those things in my head and say something appropriate.

"You look amazing, Flicka did an awesome job."

She smiles.

Elesah strides over us smiling. "You guys look hot. They're starting to line you guys up. You'll be awesome! You've got the looks, and the skills, not let's show 'em the personality! Good luck and go kill it!" She smiles one last time and walks away. Huh.

We begin to file onto the stage and take our seats. I am number eight because for the interviews girls go first.

"Welcome to the 65th Interviews!" Caesar Flickerman shouts into a mic. And sexy starts _now_.

Caesar, who is a strange shade of _lime_ green this year, tells a couple of lame jokes before calling up the girl from District 1, Diamond Lazeon. Her angle seems to be a cross between brutal and impulsive, the kind of person who would put a knife through your heart just for looking at her wrong. When Caesar asks about her low training score, she says, "If I showed the Gamemakers what I could really do they would've p*ssed in their pants." I am _not_ looking forward to spending time with her tomorrow.

Her district partner, Obsidian, is strong. He's huge, at least 6'2" and muscled, and he is trying to make himself seem scarier than he actually is. Instead he just looks like a complete ignoramus. Pathetic.

Next is Granite from D2; hostile, but nothing interesting.

Alexander's angle is charming, which is weird for District 2 but he does it and does it well. He's the first tribute to actually have a decent conversation with Caesar.

The girl from District 3 is going for smart. She seems smart, but also forgettable and boring.

The boy from District 3 was supposed to be funny, but it was a total fail. I'm not sure if he's actually funny in real life and the pressure got to him or if his mentor was desperate, but if I wasn't on hyperdrive because I'm anxious for my own interview I would of fallen asleep.

"Korey Kassidy, District Four."

Deep breaths.

Caesar asks her about everything, about her stylist, her training score, her mentors, her family, even _me._ She ends up telling the story of how we met and manages to get the whole crowd laughing. She has prepared a well constructed web of lies about her friends and family that includes a loving mother, hardworking father, caring older sister, and boyfriend who's "almost as hot as me, but not quite." I'm impressed, she's as good of a liar as me. That'll come in handy tomorrow.

"Finnick Odair, District Four."

This is it. Sexy time.

I saunter to the chair, and get into the pose that I practiced with Elesah.

Caesar whistles, just like Jayde did in the Prep Room. "Another amazing looking tribute from District Four! Is there something else going on there besides fishing that we don't know about?"

The crowd screams, especially the ladies.

I smirk. "I know you love the view and all but this body is ta-ken. Got a beautiful girlfriend at home, love you Irlissa!" I say blowing kisses at the nearest camera.

A whole bunch of women in the crowd complain.

"Darn. What do you like most about the Capitol?"

I use the same answer as I did yesterday in content, but add some to it. "The food's great, the rooms are pretty nice, but what I'm most surprised about is that there are a whole bunch of ladies who look almost as good as me," I say winking at the audience. "If I didn't have a girlfriend I'd being having some _fun_ here."

Caesar laughs. "Ah I remember when I was your age...We were all blown away by Cayne and Flicka's work for the Opening Ceremonies. What did you think of working with Cayne and your prep team?"

"Well," I say turning to the audience. "Did you like what you saw?"

I hear cheers, encouraging words, and even one lady yelling out, "Will you f*** me tonight?"

I turn back to Caesar. "The prep team was awesome and I'm glad they liked the view."

"In training you scored an eleven, the highest score in the last twenty years. Any hints on how that came about?"

"Nope. All will be revealed in the arena."

He pouts. "Please?"

I shake my head. "Nope," I repeat, popping the "p". That wasn't sexy, but it's a nervous habit and I couldn't stop it in time.

He huffs. "Fine. Who did the makeup and tattoos today?"

"Jayde, the makeup artist on my prep team."

"You look like the ocean incarnate! Jayde are you out there? Let's give her a round of applause for this amazing work!"

The cameras focus on Jayde as she waves shyly.

"What is the first thought that entered your mind when your name was called at the reaping?"

_Oh my God this can't be happening._ But I'm not gonna say that. "So much for volunteering."

"You were going to volunteer?"

"Mhmm." That's not technically a lie. I _was_ going to volunteer, just not this year.

"Who's waiting at home?"

"My mom, my girlfriend, and my best friend." Closed off answer, but I really don't want to talk about home. It's hard to be sexy when you're talking about your mother.

"Tell me a bit about each of them."

Sh*t. "Well my mom and I got pretty close after my dad died in a fishing accident, and even closer after Lecia. The entire nation knows about Carmal Odair so I don't bother to explain; it was only months later that Lecia was on this same stage.

"Speaking of Lecia, how does it feel to be on this same stage that she was on her very last night outside of the arena?"

_It feels like sh*t because she f*****g died 'cause of this and I might too._ But I don't say that. "Interesting. But I plan on the outcome being different."

He smiles and asks me more questions about Four, which I answer to the best of my ability, although I lie quite a bit.

"So Finnick, what will be your greatest strength in the arena?"

"I'm not what I seem. Everyone sees an incompetent pretty boy, but I got an _eleven_ in training for a reason. And people won't figure out what I really am until it's too late."

"That's definitely a good skill to posses. Any last remarks before we have to move on to the next tribute."

"I am a strong tribute. I'll kill you just like everyone else. The difference between me and everyone else is that I'll do it when your least expecting it and not looking."

The buzzer goes off.

"Good luck in the arena Finnick. Finnick Odair of District Four!"

The crowd roars as I saunter back to my seat.

I don't even remember what the kids from District 5 did. The District 6 girl tried to be sexy but after seeing Korey the crowd was completely unimpressed. Seeing how badly sexy worked for her, the boy decides to just go for overconfident instead and it's slightly better, but incomparable to me. Kiss my *ss District 6. Seven, Eight, and Nine tremble in their seats and try not to cry. The guy from ten goes for brutal and it actually works, I wouldn't be surprised to see him tomorrow in the Career alliance. Eleven is boring. And then Alessandra from Twelve goes on. They give her some kind of typing thing, what's it called, a keyboard, where she can enter things and then this "keyboard" will speak out loud for her. Because of the extra time it takes her to type, she gets four minutes for the interview instead of the usual three. Her angle is sweet and innocent, and it work beautifully. Every person in the crowd is crying by the time she finishes. And her brother, Alejandro, does the same angle, and just as well. He talks about how worried he is about his sister, and how he's not that strong, and how he can't compete with people like me and Alexander, and how he's just trying to enjoy his last day here with his sister. At this point tears are dripping down several of the tributes faces. Not I. _I don't cry_. I haven't cried yet, and I'm not going to because of a speech in the Interviews. It _will_ make my life h*ll if I have to kill one of them though. Caesar closes the Interviews and we head back to the Center. Dinner is a somber event, Mags, Odalys, and Elesah all give us last minute tips and we head to bed early because tomorrow we'll be up early to go to the Hunger Games.

* * *

><p><strong>FOOTNOTES<strong>

1. If you don't get this go to Google and search "That's what she said Yahoo Answers" and click on the first results. If you read ALL the answers (NOT just the most voted but ALL the answers) it will explain it.

2. Before I got my new Nike LunarGlide+ 2's (They ROCK) my gym teacher would tell me this when I ran.

3. If you need a visual of this go to Google Images and type in "John Cooper Skillet MTV" and click on the **third** image. I was looking at this when I described it, so if I did a bad job, sorry :(

4. The awesome shoes I talked about in Footnote #2

5. There is a REALLY REALLY REALLY obvious pop culture reference here. First person to correctly name who I am thinking of here will get a sneak preview of the arena and help me make some final decisions about it!

**A/N: Thanks for reading! I hope this is starting to get to. If you skip the footnotes (shame on you!) the make sure you at least read #5 because if you answer correctly I'll give you a sneak peek of the arena and you'll get to help me make some final decisions on it. It may be some time before I get the next chapter up because I'm going to try to get some prewritten chapters (I have zero right now). Thanks so much for supporting me! Finnick will enter the arena in the next chapter! PLEASE R&R.**

**-cindella204**


	11. Part I Chapter 10

**REVIEW SHOUT OUTS: **

**SPECIAL SHOUT OUT TO "The ice within" WHO HAS REVIEWED **_**EVERY CHAPTER**_** OF THIS STORY! YOU ROCK ICY!**

**SPECIAL SHOUT OUT TO "SonofHell666" WHO HAS REVIEWED EIGHT OUT OF TEN CHAPTERS! YOU ROCK!**

**SPECIAL SHOUT OUT TO "Ifweburnyouburnwithus" WHO WON THE CONTEST AND HELPED ME DESIGN THE ARENA! YOU ROCK!**

**Special thanks to Surfgirl7806, the-crazy-kit-kat, sparklegem108, God1801, and Ifweburnyouburnwithus for reviewing! I also had 3 (One was a PM) guesses for the PC reference. It was Ke$ha and Ifweburnyourburnwithus was the first to guess correctly! Thanks for your help!**

…

**A/N: Enjoy the first chapter in the arena! I was going to make this chapter way longer but it just wasn't practical so I split it. This part has been ready to upload for more than a week, sorry guys :( This isn't the best but hopefully it will hold you over until Chapter 11 which should be awesome. Also the numbers for footnotes are now bolded and in brackets. Thanks for the suggestions Icy! Also, horizontal rules are getting on my nerves so now you will see an ellipsis (...) instead (See below)**

…

**DISCLAIMER**: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING YOU RECOGNIZE INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO FINNICK ODAIR AND THE CONCEPT OF THE HUNGER GAMES

…

**IN THIS CHAPTER: Moderate Adult Language (2 f-bombs), moderate sexual references, moderate violence, moderate intense/frightening scenes (It's the Hunger Games, nothing you wouldn't expect)**

**...**

**CHAPTER 10**

I wake up to someone knocking on my door. Yay, no rude awakening for once.

"Come in!" I yell as I sit up in bed and run my fingers through my hair.

Jayde walks into the room wearing a pair of black sweatpants that say "Adidas" on them and a plain white T-shirt. She tosses me an identical outfit and says, "Put this on for now, you'll get your official clothes in the catacombs."

After I put on the clothing she escorts me to the roof, where a hovercraft is waiting.

I carefully step up onto the ladder, and then I'm completely paralyzed as the ladder slowly retracts until I get inside the hovercraft. Must be so that I can't jump once I get close in a lame attempt at suicide. Except for the fact that I'm still frozen once I get inside the hovercraft. What the h*ll is going on?

A skimpily dressed doctor walks over to me with a large needle in one of your hand.

"Hello Finnick," she purrs, sidling up to me, and I want to scream, "I'M F*****G FOURTEEN!" but of course I don't.

She wraps her arms around me and then turns my arm, leaning forward to whisper in my ear, "This is just your tracker. The stiller you are the more efficiently I can place it."

I'm still frozen and such or I would punch this woman in the face. I'm not usually a hit girls type, but I feel violated, and I'm about to go into the arena where no one will give a crap about things like that.

She inserts the tracker and I feel a violent stab of pain as the metal embeds in my skin. She then kisses my neck and whispers in her "sexy" voice, "I'll be waiting for you when you get home."

And the ladder releases me. That really sucks for her.

I give her a nice uppercut to the jaw before stalking off into the hovercraft. Jayde'll find me eventually.

She does fifteen minutes later, and I'm still fuming.

"What'd you do the doctor?"

"Punched her," I answer flatly.

"May I ask why?"

"I felt violated. She was rubbing her *ss up and down me and kissed me. Did she not watch the interviews last night? Ta-ken."

"Freakin' bimbo."

"Cayne's slacking again?"

"No, she's 'sick'" she says, putting up finger quotes on the word sick.

"Ah," I respond.

And we don't speak again for the rest of the thirty minute ride to the Catacombs.

…

"Finnick you _have_ to eat!"

I scowl at her but take a bite of my breakfast, a slice of bread topped with seaweed butter, some crabmeat quiche, and a glass of tropical fruit juice. Although the juice couldn't actually be found in District 4, it's a good meal. I suppose their trying to give us something from home since for some of us this will be our last meal. Not me. I am _not_ dying in the bloodbath.

Once I force myself to start eating I realize how hungry I am and I quickly finish up.

Jayde hands me a robe and says, "Go shower while I go get your clothes."

I nod and step into the bathroom, savoring what will be my last shower for several weeks, if not my last shower ever. When I step out of the bathroom in my robe and boxers, Jayde is waiting with an ominous looking black box. She opens it and takes out my clothes, which are honestly better than I hoped. Stretchy black pants with white stripes curving around the sides, a teal T-shirt, a thin stretchy jacket, and my new sneakers with a pair of white socks.

"There's something else in the box." She reaches into the box and pulls out of pair of boxers. Sh*t. "Ah. They want you to wear their boxers. You can change in the bathroom if you want."

"F*** it," I mutter under my breath and just change quickly in front of her, causing her to turn away.

"You can turn around now," I say and she does, handing me the pants. They are almost skin tight, but still comfortable and easy to move in. On the right leg is a weird looking triangle and the word "adidas".**[1]**

"What's 'Adidas' mean?"

"That's the brand that made the pants."

I don't exactly know what that means, but I don't want to sound stupid so I don't ask.

Next she hands me the shirt. In the top right corner is a ring-looking thing.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's the Under Armour logo."

I don't know what Under Armour is or a logo, but whatever.

"The shirt has HeatGear technology, made for if you're sweating a lot, so expect some heat."

Eh, that's better than cold. I can always strip down if I need to, but I can't put on clothes I don't have.

Next is the black jacket. In the top right corner are three arcs and the words, "The North Face" in teal.

"I assuming 'The North Face' is the brand?"

She nods. "This jacket is windproof and water resistant. It's made to be lightweight but still keep your warm when it's very windy or raining, although there is no hood."

Huh. That doesn't seem to go with the HeatGear for sweating. Maybe the Gamemakers are planning on having a varying temperature. A couple of years ago they had it so it was 100+ degrees during the day and around 20 at night. I really hope not, but I wouldn't be surprised.

She then hands me the socks and shoes. "Dri-FIT socks, anti sweat like the shirt, and your trainers. Both made by Nike. Unlike the shoes you were wearing last night, these are made for pretty much any general activity, so those are no help in trying to figure out what the arena will be like, except for the fact that it seems to be a varying climate and geography."

I nod. Hmm. If the clothes are any indication, Lecia's arena was a lot simpler than this one's going to be. Fan-freaking-tastic. She takes my bangle from Irlissa and repositions it on my wrist.

"All right, Finnick your set. Move around and see how that feels."

I run laps around the room, swing my arms, stretch. "Awesome."

The pants appear to be water resistant like the jacket. Maybe there'll be water involved. That would be nice.

"Get more food or water if you can, you'll never know when you'll get a chance to eat or drink again."

I order a glass of ice water and another piece of that bread with the seaweed butter, eating it silently.

"So, Finnick..." Jayde says trying to make conversation.

I look up at her. "Thank you. Thank you for talking to me, thank you for supporting me, thank you for making me sexy."

She laughs at that last statement. "I didn't make you sexy, I just accentuated the positives."

I almost smile despite the situation.

"District 4, prepare for launch," says a woman who sound suspiciously like the doctor from the hovercraft.

_This. Is. It._

I grab Jayde's hand as I walk to the metal plate in the center of the room. She hugs me, and I hug her back and she whispers in my ear, "I believe in you." Not in a sexy voice, but a kind voice. A friend's voice. And then I see the glass cylinder coming to take me into the arena and I pull away, giving Jayde one last smile as I get into Sexy Pose #3, my favorite. Yes, we had names for each. She gives me a thumbs up, and then I am plummeting upwards towards the surface until I am greeted by a bright burst of sunlight. My metal plate is in the corner of a triangular body of fresh water which appears to be the center of the arena. Looking around reminds me of a lesson we did in Pre-Panem History on biomes. Behind me is a grassland, and it's pretty cold, but I don't dare to zip my jacket all the way up because I'm afraid shifting my weight would trigger the mines. The Cornucopia is on an island about 200 meters away. Behind it, I see a jungle, and next to that is a desert. I bet it's not nearly this cold in those areas, which must be what the clothing was about.

"Ladies and gentlemen, let the Sixty-fifth Hunger Games begin!"

One minute. Sixty-seconds.

In my head I plan what I'm going to get, trident, knife, dart gun, backpack with supplies. A lot of stuff, definitely, but I'm a career with kick *ss fighting skills so I can get pretty much whatever I want. I look around for Korey but I don't see her. That's okay, I'm sure she'll be one of the first to the Cornucopia like me. Two hundred yards of fresh water should take me just under two minutes, and Korey should get there about five-seconds after me. Hasn't it been sixty-seconds already? What the heck—

The gong rings out.

I dive into the water and it immediately calms me down. The water is a different world for me. So I'm incredibly _lucky_ that the Games are starting with water. The water transforms me. The only other tributes I see swimming are the careers and the girl from District 7, who must have learned at some point. The rest of the tributes are trying to get to the island by hopping across a bunch of floating metal plates identical to the ones we started on. But this is the freakin' _Hunger Games_ so the plates will sink at random times, and they plummet so fast that there's no time to jump to another one before your six feet under the water. I already see bodies of drowned tributes at the bottom of whatever body of water this is. Lake, I guess.

When I reach the island I climb onto the shore and find that the water has beaded up on my jacket and pants. So they really are water resistant. My socks are a bit wet, but I've been working on the water for four years, I'm over that. The Cornucopia is about fifty yards away, and no one else has gotten to the island yet. I start sprinting toward it, only stopping to pick up a clear backpack with a dart gun and a bunch of accessories. At this point Korey, Alexander, and the girl from Seven are on the island. Korey and D7 girl are on the opposite side, but Alexander's just a few feet behind me. When I get to the Cornucopia, I grab a spear and two long knives, deciding I'll come back for supplies later. Career benefits include unlimited access to the Cornucopia until the alliance splits up. I look around the other side and see some of the non-swimmers arriving when something catches my eye. A silver trident. I sprint toward it but before I can get to it the girl from Seven takes it. Why the h*ll does she have my trident? She's from Seven! They use axes! She looks at me and then throws it into the throws it into the unnamed body of water with as much force as she can muster. Which is a lot. The girl probably throws axes all day. And it sinks like a rock. I dive into the water with my weapons still on, the backpack's waterproof and light, and if I put my stuff down someone else will jack it. I've reached the bottom of the lake in seconds, but the water is thick with blood and sand, so I'm searching blind.

And I can't find it.

I _need_ that trident. The trident is my specialty weapon. I am "the kid with the trident." I need my trident!

But I still can't find it.

And although I can hold my breath for a ridiculous amount of time I'm starting to see spots. Not good, hurry up. I keep searching. My lungs feel like they're going to explode. Keep searching. I need to surface _NOW._

I readjust my spear in my hand just someone is waiting for me and burst out of the water. And the dude from D8 _is_ waiting, with a mace. I'm a _career_. An impulsive career, sure, but a career. I am _trained_. Meaning that I saw this coming. My spear is through his heart before the mace can get anywhere near me. I'm surprised that I'm not feeling horrifically guilty, but I'm sure it'll come later.

Running back toward the Cornucopia I see Korey fighting the dude from Eleven. Boring, but apparently good with a knife in close-ranged combat. I pull out one of my own and throw it, and it ends up sticking in his back. Not fatal, but enough to take him down so that Korey can slit his throat with her sword.

"Thanks Finnick," she says slightly breathlessly.

"Yup," I say popping the "p". Nervous habit, remember?

She smiles but doesn't say anything.

When I look around I see Diamond, the girl from One, struggling to keep up with the girl from Five who has what appears to be a small dagger. I swear she is the most pathetic career I've ever seen. I jog over to them and smirk at her.

"Having trouble with that? Let me help."

I use the steel shaft of my spear to quickly disarm the D5 girl and then pin her to the ground.

"Madame, I present you with this tribute," I say with the as much of a sarcastic tone as possible.

She gives me an "I'm going to effin' kill you" look, but I'm not gonna be around long enough for her to do so, so I don't really care.

Diamond uses an axe to hack off all of her limbs and then storms away, knowing she'll bleed out in less than a minute. I shudder. Axes. And although the smell is making me want to vomit, I bend down and say, "Sorry. She was going to kill you anyway eventually."

She nods, but the effort makes her cough up blood all over my face. Oh my God, the smell. She says something, but her voice is so hoarse and quiet that I can't decipher it. I lean down closer. "Wha?"

"Make her life h*ll for me, okay?" she chokes out.

I smile. "Oh I plan on it." Well, not for this girl, just because she's a b*tch and I hate her district. It doesn't matter though I suppose.

The girl gives me a half smile, and then she stops breathing. I can tell, when you live in Four where people are drowning and receiving CPR all the time you learn the signs of a stopped heart. I didn't even know her name.

The bloodbath is coming to an end around me. Alexander, the guy from Two, and Korey are double-teaming the girl from Six, and Obsidian, the guy from One, has just given the girl from Three the death blow with a rock. After she's dead, he keeps beating her corpse with the rock until it is unrecognizable as human remains. Effin' psychopaths. Alexander and Korey finish off the girl from Six humanely, or as humanely as you can _murder_ someone. Now the only people left on the island are the careers. This was a really short bloodbath, it seems more people ran this year than usual. The non-careers didn't fight each other. They got their stuff and got the h*ll outta here. That's not a good sign. The last Games that had a bloodbath like this lasted for almost a month because everyone ran and no one fought. Dear God don't let that happen.

**…**

**FOOTNOTES:**

**1. **I think of the Hunger Games like Panem's Super Bowl. And what's the Super Bowl famous for? Its commercials. So I'm assuming companies pay to have their clothing "advertised" by having the tributes wear it. More green in President Snow's pocket.

**...**

**A/N: That was the first chapter in the arena, I hope it wasn't too horrible! I'll get the next one up ASAP. R&R please, and if you have ideas for tribute names I'd love to hear 'em! Thanks for reading!**

**-cindella204**


	12. Part I Chapter 11

**SHOUT OUTS:**

**Special shout out for "The Ice Within" who's reviewed every chapter!**

**Special thanks also to "the-crazy-kit-kat", "ifweburnyouburnwithus", and "shieldmaiden19" for reviewing the previous chapter!**

**...**

**DISCLAIMER:**

**There are several concepts, characters, and real life things that I use and/or mention in this chapter that I don't own. These include but are not limited to the Hunger Games, Finnick Odair, the Cornucopia, Ibuprofen, and Enobaria.**

**...**

**A/N: I got my new MacBook Pro so my almost as good as a human proofreader is back. Hopefully this will cut down on mistakes. The last chapter was kind of a filler but this one is a bit more substantial. Also, if I removed the A/N's and Chapter Warnings and bound up this story in a book the same size as the US hardcover copy of Mockingjay it would be 128 pages long! Oh my word! Thanks for the support and enjoy the chapter!**

**...**

**IN THIS CHAPTER: **Moderate adult language, Moderate intense/frightening scenes, mild sexual reference

**...**

**CHAPTER 11**

"Go to the Cornucopia and get anything you guys want," Alexander calls out. Apparently he's appointing himself leader, and that's fine with me. Korey and I can't be for obvious reasons, and he's the only other career who even _appears_ to be human. At the Cornucopia I pick up a sleeping bag and shove in some food and water just in case Mags is saving up the sponsor money for something else. Then I remember our plans for tonight and add a book of matches and a blow torch before walking back to where the rest of the careers are assembled, weighed down by a bunch of gear.

"Can we camp here? If mutts got to us carrying this much stuff we'd be screwed," says Alexander's partner, some kind of rock. Granite! Her name's Granite.

Korey nods. "And here we'd have constant access to the Cornucopia."

Hmm. I'm sure there's some kind of strategical reason why she wants the careers on the island when we leave, but I'm honestly not sure what.

Alexander nods. "Okay. Let's set up over here."

**...**

"Can we go hunting already?" Diamond whines. "This is sooooo boring!"

We've been setting up for almost an hour, and we have three tents forming a triangle with two sleeping bags in each. In the center of the triangle is the food and all of our backpacks with various backup weapons and survival items. While we were setting up they cannons blasted for the bloodbath deaths. Nine.

"In a sec, Diamond," he replies. "What weapons are we taking?"

"My sword and a couple knives," Korey says instantly.

"My bow," says Granite. Bow? That's an awfully...nice, for lack of better terms, weapon for a career. Involves very little pain and blood. Strange.

"A mace. And some knives for good measure," says Obsidian. That's more like a normal career.

"My spear and knives," I say. The dart gun won't be much use until I can poison the darts.

"I'm taking two daggers and two knives. Diamond?"

"My axe. Now can we f—ing get started already?" she snaps.

"That's what she said," I mutter under my breath, causing both Korey and Alexander to start snickering. Diamond gives all three of us death glares.

When Alexander recovers, he says, "Yeah, but one of us has to guard the stuff."

A plan is forming in my head. Mwah-hah-hah-hah-hahha...

"I'll stay. I have to find something to poison my darts with anyway..."

Korey raises an eyebrow and I shake my head ever so slightly. I'll explain later.

"Kay. Let's go," he says and they take their weapons and dive into the water. As soon as I see them surface in the savanna, I open every backpack and dump out all the supplies. All together there is two weeks worth of food, a third of it non-persishable, somewhere around three gallons of water, seven knives, a dagger, my dart gun, two utility belts, three books of matches, a blowtorch, two bottles of pain medicine, a large bottle of hydrogen peroxide, a first aid kit, two flotation devices, four blankets, a vial of liquid medicine, some of those water purifying tablets, two coils of wire, three pairs of night vision glasses, and some firewood. I grab the two biggest backpacks and put three days worth of food, a quart of water, three knives, a utility belt, a book of matches, a bottle of pain medicine, a blanket, water purifying tablets, wire, and a pair of night vision glasses in each. I then place the dagger and hydrogen peroxide in one bag and my dart gun and blowtorch in the other. The vial of medicine stays out because I want to figure out what that is. Next I redistribute the remaining supplies into the other four backpacks and put two in each tent, making sure that the fuller ones are in the tent Korey and I claimed. Now the vial of medicine. Somehow I don't have a good feeling about it. I carefully open it and smell it. Easiest way to identify it without taste, which could be dangerous. Bitter almonds. Why does that sound so familiar...cyanide! It's liquid cyanide! Deadly poison that can kill in two to three minutes if ingested. I uncork the vial and get the dart gun out of my bag. I've got three clips and twenty-four darts. I carefully dip eighteen in the cyanide and load the clips, leaving the last six clean since I don't have a safe place to store them. I then put the extensions on the gun and load a clip, putting the second in the stock. The third goes in my utility belt with the six loose darts, the corked vial, and my knives.

A cannon goes off. They must have found someone.

Since I have nothing better to do, I start making mental plans for tonight.

_Get first watch with Korey_

_Wait for them to fall asleep_

_Pack up the tent_

_Light supplies on fire_

_RUN_

_Swim to the desert_

Although it's going to be ridiculously hot in the desert, you can see pretty much the entire area from any spot. We're gonna end up number one on the hit list so that's important. Hopefully the wind will cooperate and blow the flames toward us.

I hear frantic footsteps and raise my gun. Whoever it is either doesn't have a clue what stealth is or is being chased by something so frightening that they don't care. Oh Lord. Korey comes bursting through the trees, closely followed by Obsidian and Diamond. All three are dripping blood in at least three places.

"What the h*ll happened? And where are Alexander and Granite?"

Still trying to catch his breath, Obsidian chokes out, "Carnivorous wildebeests."

"On the island?"

Korey shakes her head. "Savanna. Where we got the guy from Seven."

I open my mouth to ask about Alexander and Granite again but Diamond sees it coming and answers, "Coming. Alexander offered to fight them for the rest of us, but he got hurt. Granite's helping him out."

"That bad?"

"Various cuts and a sprained ankle," she says.

"Crap. You guys patch yourselves up, I'm gonna go bring them stuff to set it."

They all mutter their assent and I put my spear and knives in my belt, my gun in its back holster**[1]** 1, and throw my backpack over my shoulder before setting out.

**...**

"Finnick?"

I raise my gun and look around. After searching the island with no results I am now walking along the Jungle-Savanna border.

"Up here."

I look up to see Granite in a tree about twenty feet in the air.

"I brought stuff to set Alexander's ankle."

She nods and starts to climb down the tree.

"I told the others we were coming and we'd meet them at camp but then I realized he obviously can't walk."

"Ah."

She leads me to a clearing where Alexander is sitting. He's ripped up his shirt and used it as a bandage, but blood is soaking through and you can see everywhere he's been from the trail.

"Finnick brought stuff to set your ankle."

"Oh thank God."

"But first I'm cleaning out those cuts. The ankle won't get much worse in ten minutes but the gashes will."

He scowls at me but I ignore it and carefully remove the first makeshift bandage, on his shoulder. Luckily it's not deep and I quickly clean and bandage it. The next one is on his right thigh and significantly deeper, bleeding heavily. Crap. I clean it with peroxide and bandage it but I'm not sure if it's actually going to do any good. Now for the ankle. Sprained ankles aren't that common in District Four, but they are in the Games so we learned how to treat them in the Training Center. PRINCE:

Protection – Put some kind of brace on it if you can get one (Sponsors!)

Rest it – Don't apply weight to it until you can do so with no pain

Ice – If ice is available, use it! Ice for about fifteen minutes every hour and a half for the first two days

NSAIDs – Non steroidal anti-inflammatory drug. Pain medicine. If you have Ibuprofen, that's best.

Compression – Use a compression bandage**[2]** 2 underneath the brace

Elevation – Keep the ankle above the level of your heart for two to three hours a day to minimize swelling

I don't have a brace, crutches, or ice, but hopefully I can make this work anyway.

"It sucks that we don't have ice," Granite says.

"I know. I do have a compression bandage and some pain meds."

I dig through the first aid kit until I find it. "Do you know how you're supposed to wrap this, 'cause I honestly don't."

"I do," Granite says. "At home we have sprained ankles all the time."

District Two, stone quarries. I suppose that makes sense.

She takes the bandage and starts to wrap up his ankle when I notice a silver parachute falling. I pick it up and open it to find an ankle brace.

Alexander raises an eyebrow. "Is that an actual brace or another bandage?"

I read the label. "Ankle brace with gel cushions."

His face lights up. "Like the ones we have at home. Thanks Enobaria. And sponsors."

I raise an eyebrow. "She's your mentor?"

He nods. "Everyone thinks she's a creeper, but she's honestly not that bad and she definitely knows what she's doing."

No comment. Alexander easily puts on the brace and attempts to stand. With a lot of help from Granite he manages to take a couple steps.

"We need to get to the island ASAP. I'm not sure if I can swim, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it," he says. Granite wraps one arm around his waist and steadies him and they take a few tentative steps.

"I'll cover you," I say and walk about a meter behind them with my gun steadied on my right shoulder and two knives within easy reach.

It takes us about ten minutes to hike the two hundred fifty meters to the oasis.

"Now what?" I ask.

Alexander frowns. "I wasn't that strong of a swimmer to begin with. There's no way I'll be able to cover that."

They both look at me.

"If you can keep yourself afloat, I could tow you pretty easily, it's only two hundred meters."

Alexander nods. "I should be able to, I'm not sure why the ankle would make a difference in my floating ability."

I dive into the water and go under, opening my eyes under the water briefly before popping back up.

"Come on."

Granite scowls at the water before diving in and starting toward the island. Alexander manages to hobble in and get into a float position where I wrap one arm around him and use the other to propel us through the water. Although I'm towing someone who weighs about thirty to forty pounds more than me, I still manage to get to the island before Granite is even half way. They learned in pools, meaning they trained for speed rather than long distance. Two hundred meters isn't necessarily long distance, but when you've never done more than fifty at one time it's probably quite tiring. That or she's just slow.

"Should we wait for her?" I ask Alexander.

He nods. "Probably."

Ugh.

I sit down underneath a tree and absently draw in the dirt with one of my knives while we wait. In the time it takes Granite to reach the shore I could have swam 400 meters at least. That's the difference between someone who learned in a twenty-five meter pool and a real swimmer.

When she finally drags herself out of the water, she looks like she just ran a marathon. Definitely not a real swimmer.

"Sorry...slow swimmer...let's go," she chokes out, trying to catch her breath as she helps Alexander up and and wraps his arm around he shoulders.

I nod and stand up. "I'll cover you again."

"There's no one here but us," Granite says.

"But there could be animals," I respond. Or any other trap that the Gamemakers decide to send us.

She just nods and we resume our earlier position.

Apparently the Gamemakers are feeling sorry for us because we get back to camp without encountering anything. Or they're planning something bigger and better for later.

When we get to camp Korey jumps up and runs over to me as Granite helps Alexander into their tent.

"Are we still on for tonight?," she whispers.

I already thought about this while waiting for Granite. "Yeah. Even if I _didn't_ want to, Diamond would kill me without hesitation if I even looked at her wrong, and she doesn't like you much either."

She nods.

Granite and Obsidian are dividing up food for each of us, an apple, two slices of bread, and a small serving of some kind of tomato soup with a glass of water.**[3]** 3 I reach into my belt and make sure I still have the vial of cyanide before I touch anything.

While we eat we make plans for tonight and tomorrow morning. Korey and I will take first watch from around eight to midnight. Diamond and Obsidian will relieve us. We are to wake them up. Tomorrow we'll go hunting again while Alexander guards the stuff since he's hurt.

After we finish Granite takes Alexander to their tent to clean out his cuts and re-wrap them. After they leave Obsidian immediately mumbles something about being tired˙ that included the word "ludicrous"**[4]** 4 and retreats to the District 1 tent.

And then there were three.

Korey leans toward me and whispers, "This is so stupid. I hate the Games. All the blood, all the people dying. The Capitol is so stupid, I just wish—"

That's when I notice her voice has been growing steadily louder. I give her a "shut up _now_" look because there are cameras and Diamond will be able to hear her if she gets much louder.

"Is that what you really think sweetheart? So inspiring!" I hear her squeal.

Speak of the devil. Or think of the devil.

Korey looks confused. "Really?"

Mental facepalm. Does she not understand the concept of sarcasm? I mean honestly it wasn't so hard to detect the way her voice was dripping.

Wait. Asperger's. No educational problems, but social awkwardness. This must be what she was talking about.**[5]** 5

"Shut up, Diamond," I hiss under my breath and then turn to Korey and say, "You look tired. Go rest up before we have to take watch." She nods and leaves like an obedient little puppy.

Diamond whirls on me and snaps, "I don't know what you guys are planning, but in the morning I'm gonna figure out and it's gonna be o-ver."

I smirk at her. Tomorrow morning it's gonna be too late.

"Oh really?"

"Yeah you and your 'special' girlfriend!"

Wait what? "Huh?"

"We all know she's got issues."

"Oh shut _up_, Diamond! You don't even know the girl. And we all know that you're a f—ing twinkie that makes every career dead or alive want to bang their head on the wall, but we don't talk about you behind _your_ back."

Her hand tightens around the knife on her belt.

"And she's not my girlfriend," I add as an afterthought.

She pulls the knife out of her belt.

"Kill me. I flippin' dare you."

She lunges at me clumsily, rage blocking her senses, and I easily disarm her with my spear. I then pull her arms behind her back and have a knife at her throat in one smooth motion, pressing down just enough for a trickle of blood to slide down her neck.

"Get the h*ll outta here before I kill you," I snarl.

I let go of her and she sprints to the tent forgetting about her knife. I pick it up and put it in my belt.

**...**

"When are we leaving?" Korey asks me. We've been on watch for about an hour and a half and everyone is sound asleep. We checked. Twice.

"Soon, let's start packing our stuff. I already stuffed the backpacks, we just need to get our sleeping bags and weapons."

"No tent?"

"No. We won't be able to carry it and taking it down would make too much noise."

She nods and goes back to the tent, returning with our backpacks, weapons, and rolled up sleeping bags.

"How are we going to swim with all this stuff?"

"Umm..." I was still trying to figure that part out.

Korey jumps up. "I've got an idea, be right back!"

She's gone before I can respond.

In a vain attempt to smother my growing anxiety I go through my belt rearranging all my equipment. Two knives in specially designed loops on my right hip. My third loaded clip in a larger pocket next to the knives. The free darts, a pair of night vision glasses, and the book of matches in my second pocket. The vial of cyanide in another loop on my left side. I decided I'll ditch the spear because there's no way I can carry that and a sleeping bag and still swim. Only after I finish organizing do I launch it into the water, about fifteen meters from our watch spot. Quick access to my supplies could be the difference between life and death.

Korey returns with two more large backpacks. She tosses one to me as she whispers, "Sleeping bags. We wear these as we swim and hold the heavier ones."

That actually makes a lot of sense. I nod and put the and put the new backpack on, holding the other in my lap.

"Now what?"

She sighs. "I say we go while they are still asleep."

I nod and pull out the book of matches.

"We're going to the desert."

She nods.

Deep breaths.

I strike the first match and the orange blaze lights up the night.

Deep breaths.

I drop it in the center of the supply pile and it ignites immediately. Sh*t it's spreading fast. I hurry to light several more and toss them onto the pile until the raging inferno is almost to the tents. Time to get the h*ll outta here. I sprint out of the camp to the beach, where Korey is waiting.

"Stay close," she hisses and dives. I follow her, ignoring the form techniques that I've learned over the years and simply swimming for speed and speed alone. I couldn't care less if it doesn't look as pretty.

As I swim, I recount today's events.

_Shower and get clean clothing for possibly the last time_

_Get put in an arena_

_Swim in water with multiple dead bodies in it_

_Kill a boy_

_Help someone kill a girl_

_Prepare a poisonous weapon_

_Burn down a camp, possibly injuring or killing someone_

_Make a run for it_

Huh. What a day.

**...**

**FOOTNOTES**

**1. **Didn't want to waste time describing this but here's a sketch of it http(colon)(slash)(slash)fav(dot)me(slash)d4hg9m1

**2. **A.K.A. an ACE Bandage but I didn't want to use the brand name

**3. **No, the water's not literally in a glass. I meant it in the amount sense

**4. **Ridiculous

**5. **If you actually noticed that Korey was _very _ADHD in this scene as well as Asperger's, first you get a virtual present for noticing — [=] In that box is whatever you desire most in life. Anywho, I've decided that the way Korey has acted earlier in the story is a bit ADHD too, so yeah, Korey has undiagnosed ADHD.

**...**

**A/N: I'm gonna come clean here, I had a lot of trouble writing this chapter. Like more than I've ever had with this story. I hope the writing doesn't reflect that, but I'm sure it does. So sorry, but please REVIEW anyway and give me your thoughts.**

**-cindella204**


	13. Part I Chapter 12

**SHOUT OUTS:**

"**Floracat", "mystic night92", and "Samy58787667757": You subscribed or favorited this story but didn't review. Normally I'd PM you about this but it wouldn't let me so I'm doing this instead. Could you please review this chapter? It can be short, but it helps me keep track of who's reading and what they like and don't like.**

**Special shout out for "The Ice Within" who's reviewed every chapter!**

**Special thanks also to "SonofHell666", "ifweburnyouburnwithus", "shieldmaiden19", and "prim001" for reviewing the previous chapter!**

**...**

**DISCLAIMER:**

**There are several concepts, characters, and real life things that I use and/or mention in this chapter that I don't own. These include but are not limited to the Hunger Games, Finnick Odair, Mags, EpiPen, and 5-hour ENERGY.**

**...**

**A/N: I'm SO sorry about how long this took. School started, and I have extracurriculars, and I'm not used to high school yet (I'm taking AP's, never done anything like it), and I had writers block...anyway I'm really sorry about that and hopefully it won't happen again. Also I tried to tone down the language a bit here since several of you commented on it. Enjoy!**

**...**

**IN THIS CHAPTER: **Mild adult language, Moderate violence, Strong intense/frightening scenes

**...**

**CHAPTER 12**

"Do you want first watch or should I take it?" Korey asks.

"I'll get it since I didn't do anything today. Get some rest and I'll wake you up in four to five hours."

She nods. "See you in the morning, Finnick."

"Night, Korey"

We've made a camp in the desert about half a kilometer**[1]** from the oasis. Since we don't have a tent anymore, it's just our two sleeping bags and various equipment organized in a triangle shape behind a large boulder that I sit on while taking watch. From there I can see the oasis straight ahead, and if I squint the edges of the savanna on the left and the jungle on the right. About five minutes after we got here a cannon went off; most likely the careers got into an argument about whose fault it is that Korey and I got away and it turned violent. Careers are idiots, which is why we left when we did. Since then the night has been pretty quiet, but the Capitol wants a show, so if it gets _too_ quiet there will be Gamemaker intervention. In training they told us that having a round-the-clock watch was more about that than other tributes. When some human eating mutt comes in the middle of the night with no warning and you're asleep, you're kinda screwed regardless of how fast your can get up and get a weapon. In the Games, _seconds_ count. About an hour into my watch, I grab something to eat. It seems like days ago that we were eating dinner with the careers, but in reality it's probably been about six hours. The bread is crunchy but not stale, a luxury I haven't been able to afford in six years. Four is a generally well off district, but both my mom and I were working jobs that were considered part-time and low paying even for that, so we were feeding two on a salary that would be low for one. A richer district means a higher cost of living. I've eaten better here in the _arena_ than I did at home. Fruit and vegetables are expensive, and according to my mom vegetables are more important, so fruit was rare in our household. We were by no means starving, just eating significantly less than comfortable. The "so hungry you don't even feel hungry anymore just tired"**[2] **state was rare. A strange feeling of homesickness washes over me. Sure things were rough, but I can't deal with the idea of never seeing it again.

**...**

"Finnick, I'm up, go to sleep," Korey says. I nod, and after being up for almost twenty-four hours straight, I fall asleep as soon as my head hits the hard pillow attached to my sleeping bag. And then the nightmares come. At first I'm in Lecia's Games and it's the same scene as when Glamour kills her except I am Lecia and Lecia is Glamour. My sister throws the axe and I see it end up in my own head. After that the scene fades so I am drowning in the oasis. The water is only a foot above my head, but some force is keeping me from surfacing. Claudius Templesmith, the announcer, is commenting on the irony that the best swimmer in the Games drowns. Then I'm watching Obsidian beat Korey's head in with a mace, before turning and coming to me. Diamond has strip-searched me and taken all my weapons, so there's nothing I can do as he comes at me and thrusts it against the base of my skull again and again and again...

Needless to say, I didn't get all that much sleep.

**...**

In the morning I'm still exhausted, but I get up anyway and let Korey know that I'm up.

She nods and starts to get out some food when several parachutes come down. I open them to find two glasses of juice, a loaf of bread still warm from the oven, a cup of seaweed butter, and two portions of shark fin soup. Shark fin soup. My dad, the accident, a shark...yeah didn't need to be reminded of that right now.

"Shark fin soup? Really?"

Apparently Korey remembers too.

Figuring there is a camera on me somewhere, I say, "Thanks Mags, Sponsors, but can we get chowder next time?"

Yeah, I know. I'm in the arena getting Capitol food and being picky. But the Capitol loved us, so we'll have sponsors. Lots. That's what you get when your good looking, talented, and likable. The perfect tribute. Perfect tributes get to be picky.

Korey and I sit and eat the soup with two pieces of bread each.

"Soooo...what are we doing today?" Korey asks.

"Um...I was thinking maybe we could go scout out the jungle, just to see if there's anything we can use."

She nods. "That'd be good. When we go over there can we go through the oasis?"

"Sure, I wouldn't mind a short swim."

'Wouldn't mind' is an understatement. Anything that would remind me of home would be greatly appreciated.

After we finish eating we pack up and head out to the jungle. Korey finds some vines that we could use to make more of those gill nets and a couple of guava**[3]** trees that could be a food source if necessary. We've decided not to eat anything in the arena unless we have to, because although the Fiftieth Games were a year before I was born, I heard the stories about everything being poisonous. I'm not dying because of a flippin' fruit.

As we get ready to head back a parachute glides down containing two bowls of exotic looking fruit and two glasses of water.

"What's that?" Korey asks.

"A snack."

"Snack? Didn't we eat just over two hours ago?" she asks.

"Yeah."

I turn toward what I think would be the best angle for a camera and say, "Thanks sponsors and Mags," before starting to eat the fruit. I recognize pineapple and mango, although both are infinitely better than I've ever tasted. We could never afford them unless they were overripe, not rotten, just mushy and so sweet they made your stomach hurt. These ones are sweet too, but only a hint of sweet. Just right. There are also some little red seeds that I assume are from a pomegranate, which I've only heard the _really_ rich kids talk about. Like the mayor's kids, victor's relatives, and a few business kids who's fathers have a complete monopoly over their field. The kind of kid I would have been if my dad hadn't died. There are a couple of others mixed in, but I don't question them since the food's from the Capitol.

Afterwards we pick up our stuff and head back to our little camp. About a third of the way there the jungle changes. The foliage gets much denser and something about it is making me nervous. Maybe because we've never been in this part of the jungle before. Maybe because my only weapons are a dull knife and a dart gun. I don't know. But my gun is cocked on my shoulder as I maneuver through the jungle with Korey. Soon I can see the border, and I decide I was freaking out about nothing.

And then four foot-long scorpions surround us, one from each of the cardinal directions.

We learned the proper way to kill these in training, but with the adrenaline rush comes apprehension, so I just kill the closest in the easiest way possible, stepping on it and swiveling my foot until it is ground into a paste. I look up briefly and see Korey trying to kill a scorpion the way we learned, using her sword to keep it from getting too close as she searches for the right spot to stab with her dagger.

"Just step on it!" I yell, but she's in that super focused mode where she is totally oblivious to everything around her. I've seen her do it before in training when she loses herself in an especially intense round of sparring. Another scorpion comes towards me and I repeat the process, driving this one even further into the ground. At this point Korey's managed to kill her first one, but now the second is only a few centimeters from her shoe. She manages to scoop it with her sword and brings her dagger down onto it's vulnerable stomach and I breathe a sigh of relief.

But just before the dagger makes contact, the scorpion rights itself and jumps onto her right arm, immediately sinking its claws into her skin so she can't shake it off.**[4]**

Oh sh*t.

I pull my knife out of my belt and throw it as hard as I can, hoping to make the scorpion release its hold. It does, but not before it forces the sharp tip of its tail into her skin and injects a ridiculous amount of venom.

Bleep.

As soon as the scorpion hits the ground Korey freaks out and stomps on it over and over and over again until it's completely ground into the jungle floor and she's just stomping on this bare spot in the foliage while screaming about stingers and poison and fangs and death. I want to say it's just an Aspergers thing and move on, but I know it's not and I've never been good at lying to myself. Aspergers doesn't make people go crazy. I decide to walk over to her and figure out what's wrong, but when I get about thirty centimeters away she gets scared and cowers behind a tree. When she turns I realize that the site of the sting has swollen to the size of a small guava, and green stuff is oozing out. I creep closer to her and call out softly, "Korey?"

She turns swiftly and her eyes grow wide. "Chrissy? Why are you here?" she whispers.

Chrissy? Who the heck is—her sister. So whatever was in this sting is causing some major hallucinations.

"No. Finnick."

"Finnick? Why are you—spider!"

I turn and look behind me. I don't see any spiders, but I know Korey has a bordering on irrational fear of them.

"Get off! Get off, get off, GET OFF!" She yells, shaking her now swollen arm.

I sigh. She's going to be out of commission for a while, so we need to get back to our camp where I can watch better.

"We need to go back to camp."

She continues to yell about spiders and doesn't acknowledge my comment.

"Seriously Korey, you need to follow me."

Nothing.

I walk over to her and take hold of her wrist.

She starts screaming bloody murder. Not words, just screaming. Anyone within a four hundred meter radius can probably hear her.

We _have_ to get back to camp. If the three careers that are still alive find us here, which they very well could the way Korey is screaming, we'd be screwed. My only choice is to force her to come with me, so I pick her up bridal style, the only way I can carry her the way she's acting, and begin to trek through the jungle.

**...**

Almost half an hour later we arrive at our camp. I set Korey down in her sleeping bag, take a seat on our watch rock, and completely zone out. The memories from home come rushing back, and I find myself more homesick then ever. All of Lecia's friends fawning over me at her sweet sixteen party. An oversized cake on my seventh birthday almost a year before dad's accident. Lecia showing me how to swim even faster after she got off from work early on a Saturday. Passing my placement test for training and moving up to Korey's class. My first date with Irlissa. Qualifying for Advanced Spears which you usually have to be sixteen to take. Last week would have been my first class. I am so lost in my thoughts that when a cannon rings out I jump almost a foot. Half of us dead in two days, twelve left. Korey, who I thought was asleep or knocked out, starts screaming again. D*mmit. I walk over to her, stopping about twenty centimeters away to judge her reaction. She abruptly stops screaming and just stares at me, her eyes cloudy. I reach out to take her hand, not sure why, just a reflex I suppose, and she freaks out again.

And punches me in the jaw.

Did I mention we took hand to hand combat together? Her aim's a bit off, probably because of the whole going insane thing, but she's still strong.

I hear some nasty crunching noise and my mouth fills with blood, and I know she has either dislocated my jaw, fractured it, or both.

When she sees the blood she scurries back to her sleeping bag muttering something about blood, evil, and kill.

Nice.

My ally has gone crazy and just broke my jaw. I can barely open my mouth, but I manage to say, "Some kind of first aid would be nice" although it comes out more like "Sum kite uh forse aid word be knives."

A large parachute floats down, and I open it to a large first aid kid with the words "FACIAL INJURY" printed on it. I open it to find two large packets labeled "Bandages" and "Cotton Gauze", a bottle of water, a box of pain medicine, a topical anesthetic, and a tin of mints.**[5]** I rinse my mouth with the water and then try to figure out what to do with the rest of it. The pain medicine is pretty self explanatory, and I knock back two of the pills before moving on to the topical anesthetic. I know an anesthetic is a numbing agent, but I thought those came in shots. I open it to find this jelly looking stuff. I don't really know what to do with it, so I just take some with my finger and rub it along the right side of my jaw, inside and out of my mouth, which makes it start bleeding again. My mouth quickly floods with blood, and for a second I'm afraid I'm going to choke. I spit and start digging through the kit looking for something to help the blood clot. Cotton Gauze. Perfect. I hastily tear open the package and find about fifty small squares about five centimeters long. I take about three and tuck them in into the right side of my mouth. With nothing else to do, I take a seat on the rock and watch the desert while basking in my own thoughts.

**...**

About half an hour later another parachute arrives. This one contains more pain medicine, two bowls of what seems to be pureed corn chowder, and a needle labeled "Tracker Jacker Venom Antidote".

Tracker Jacker venom.

It all makes sense now.

The scorpion was a mutt carrying tracker jacker venom. It was enhanced by the Gamemakers to allow it to jump that far, and after Korey got stung she totally lost it.

I pick up the needle. It's about 23 centimeters long and wicked sharp. If she punched me for trying to touch her, how the h*ll am I going to persuade her to let me stab her with a needle? I read the directions:

_Pull off gray safety release_

_Jab black tip firmly into outer thigh so it 'clicks' AND HOLD on thigh for approx. 10 secs._

_Seek medical attention_

Seek medical attention? Obviously these weren't designed for the arena. I walk over to Korey and see that she is asleep. I think. I kneel down next to her. Definitely asleep. You can hear it in her breathing. I rock back on my knees. _What's the best way to do this?_ I think. I could pin her arms back and do it, but then she might wake up before I can get the needle in. Or I could just do it, but I really can't afford for her to swing at me again. I bite my lip. I decide to just trust my reflexes, putting a hand up to catch her wrists if necessary. I hope the thing can go through clothing, because I'm not going to be able to strip off her pants without waking her. I take a deep breath, remove the safety cap, and plunge the needle into her thigh.

She bucks as soon as it makes contact, but I catch her flailing arms and pin them behind her head.

_One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand, four one thousand, five one thousand, six one thousand, seven one thousand, eight one thousand, nine one thousand, ten one thousand._

I pull out the needle and she immediately falls back onto her sleeping bag, knocked out.

_Umm, was that supposed to happen? _I think. It looked bad. I look to the sky and voice my concerns. No response. Nothing to do but wait, I suppose. I return to the watch rock, and try to eat the soup Mags sent. It's honestly quite a pain. Every time I open my mouth a flash of pain like getting stabbed with a knife courses through my body, and a couple of times I open my mouth too wide and my jaw locks, leaving me to massage my jaw until it snaps back into place. Since the last death things have been pretty quiet. I finish the soup, thanking my mentors and sponsor like usual, and sit in silence, wondering about what's to come.

**...**

Four hours later, at about 19 o'clock**[6]** another parachute arrives. This one has some undistinguishable soup, a bottle of water, and a small cylindrical container labeled "5-hour ENERGY. I read the directions. Apparently you just knock it back and it starts working in less than ten minutes. I do. I have a feeling it's going to be a long night.

**...**

**FOOTNOTES:**

Approx. .31 miles. I'm American but I'm using the Metric system for this story because I know I have readers who don't live in the US (We learn Metric they don't learn US Customary) and for swimming and running you use Metric. And it's just easier somehow…

Been there, done that. I participated in something called 30 Hour Famine at my church where you collect sponsors and then have nothing but water and juice for thirty hours and the money helps kids who are starving. After about ten or twelve hours your not even hungry anymore, just really tired.

Guava is a tropical fruit. Grows on a tree, kind of pink inside, although it can be white. I've had fresh guava once (when I was in the Caribbean) and it was sweet and really good :)

Normal scorpions can jump about a foot. These are genetically engineered Capitol scorpions. Please suspend your disbelief.

To get rid of the blood taste. Like your parents might (have) given you gum after your throw up.

I'm using twenty-four hour time too. It's easier for me in my planning, and it's easier for you guys to figure out what I'm talking about (hopefully)

**...**

**A/N: First, I posted a link to a picture I drew of Korey on my profile! It is labeled "Korey Kassidy PROFILE SHOT!". If you haven't checked out those links, most of them are related to When Life Became A Game, and you might find them interesting so check them out! No, you won't be seeing a picture of Finnick. If someone could draw me a good base, I'll color it and write you a 500+ word one-shot on a HG character of your choice! Seriously, send me a link if you have anything good. Third, do you guys find "that's what she said" jokes annoying? I just realized how much I use those, and no one has commented, but if you don't like them let me know and I'll tone it down a bit. Did you guys notice the language? This chapter only had three curse words, and no f-words. I'm not promising to keep it this low, but I will try to keep it reasonable.**

**Please review, I really appreciate the feedback!**

**-cindella204**


	14. Part I Chapter 13

**SHOUT OUTS:**

"**XSHYgirlHINATAX": You subscribed or favorited this story but didn't review. Normally I'd PM you about this but it wouldn't let me so I'm doing this instead. Could you please review this chapter? It can be short, but it helps me keep track of who's reading and what they like and don't like.**

**Special shout out for "The Ice Within" who's reviewed every chapter!**

**Special thanks also to "Floracat" and "shieldmaiden19" for reviewing the previous chapter!**

**...**

**DISCLAIMER:**

**There are several concepts, characters, and real life things that I use and/or mention in this chapter that I don't own. These include but are not limited to the Hunger Games, Finnick Odair, and the Cornucopia.**

**...**

**A/N: Hey guys! I wasn't going to post this until I finished Chapter 14, but the next two weeks are going to be super busy for DECA (the marketing club) and Honors English (we just started this huge unit on Romeo and Juliet with a million projects), and I wanted to get this up before October ended. If you are wondering why Korey didn't knock any of Finnick's teeth out, it's because she hit him more in the upper side of the jaw...only three reviews last time :( That made me really sad. My birthday is October 21 and I'd love fifty reviews! Please guys? Anyway, Enjoy!**

**...**

**IN THIS CHAPTER: ** Moderate adult language and Moderate intense/frightening scenes

**...**

**CHAPTER 13**

Every four hours I get a different soup and one of those energy shots. By ten o'clock the next morning, I can barely keep my eyes open regardless of the energy stuff. We've been in the arena for about forty-eight hours and I've gotten five hours of sleep. That's it. I almost go to sleep thinking that I'm so exhausted that I wouldn't be any help if something _did_ come up, but I can't bring myself to do it. So I sit and wait.

**...**

The anthem comes on and I look up to see today's death toll. No one. I try to count who's dead and who's left. The nine bloodbath deaths, Granite from Two, the guy from Seven, and Alessandra's brother are dead. Me and the other four careers, the girl from Seven, the guy from Ten, Alessandra, and four others are still alive. It's been a fast year, half dead in two days, the career pack broken up in hours. And it makes me wonder if my days are numbered. Or Korey's.

**...**

"Finnick? What's going on?"

I turn to see Korey sitting up in her sleeping bag, looking slightly dazed, but sane. It's twenty-two hundred and I've been up for almost thirty-four hours.

"Are you feeling all right? You've been out for almost thirty hours."

"Yeah, I'm fine now, but what happened?"

"The scorpion that stung you had tracker jacker venom. You kinda...lost it."

Her face fills with shame. "I did that," she says nodding her head towards my now slightly swollen and definitely disfigured jaw. It's a statement, not a question.

I simply nod.

She walks over and turns my head ever so gently towards her so she can see, and her eyes fill with horror. It doesn't look nearly as nasty as it did last night because Mags has been sending me medicine for the bruising and swelling, but you can still tell where it fractured just because of the distorted shape of my mouth.

"I am _so_ sorry," she says under her breath, staring at the dry ground below us.

"It's fine."

Her head snaps up and I see genuine anger in her eyes. "No, it's not fine! You're my ally for God's sake and I just hurt you because I can't keep myself together! Now you can't talk right, can't eat real food, and are ten times more vulnerable. I'm here to protect you and I just wounded you! That's _not_ okay!"

I turn toward her. "Korey, I'm _fine,"_ I say, a bit of frustration leaking into my voice. Being babied isn't something I deal with very well. I've always been the little kid, and it p*sses me off. I can take care of myself, and I will.

"No you're not! You didn't do as many years of First Aid as I did, you don't know—"

I zone out at "you don't know". I'm tired of people telling me I don't know. All my life I've been surrounded by people older than me, and all my life people have been telling me that. "You're too young to understand", "You wouldn't know", "You haven't been around long enough"...I tune back into what Korey is saying.

"Finnick! Are you even listening to me?" She says it like a mother discipling a child, as if there is some explicit requirement that I listen to her.

"Korey, I'm not your little sister, shut _up_!"

She recoils as if I slapped her, and turns to me, hope in her eyes. Hope that I didn't really mean that I guess.

I glare at her.

The shock is evident and her face turns to stone. And in that moment I see every wall I've been trying to break down for the last nine days slide back up.

Sh*t.

"Korey—"

"Go to bed Finnick, you've been up for more than a day." She sounds tired and frustrated.

"But Korey—"

She sends me an icy glare. "Go. To sleep."

I wordlessly get up and slide into my sleeping bag, but somehow I doubt I'll get much sleep.

**...**

I sleep in late, until about eight o'clock, and wake up to find Korey on the watch rock with a bowl of fruit. When she notices I'm up she wordlessly hands me a silver canister. I open it to find a creamy red liquid. It's actually kind of scary looking. I stick my finger in a taste it. It tastes like fruit. With some kind of dairy. Quite delicious. I quickly finish it off and turn to Korey.

"What are we doing today?" I ask.

Korey shrugs, still facing away from me.

D*mmit. The walls are back up.

"Savanna? We haven't gone there yet."

"Whatever."

Sigh.

"I'm worried about going direct after the whole scorpion incident. Maybe go through the oasis again?"

"I don't care, Finnick."

I bite my lip to keep from saying something stupid. That's what got me in this position in the first place.

I swing my backpack over my left shoulder and secure my gun holster on the right.

"Let's go."

She doesn't respond but follows me to the water.

**...**

Not much happens in the savanna. It's freezing cold there, hence the jackets I suppose, and we don't find anything useful. Grass. Stubby trees. A different type of grass. Shrub! I expected their to be animals, but there were none. In fact the only animals we've seen are the scorpions in the jungle. Weird.

We're walking back to the oasis to head to camp when Korey asks, "Can we stop at the Cornucopia? I'd like to look for weapons, this sword is getting increasingly lousy every time I use it."

"Fine." I say. I've given up on trying to have a half-decent conversation with her. We have a strictly business relationship, and that's based on necessity alone.

I reach the edge of the water, dive in, and bask in the familiar texture against my skin. I forget about the Games, forget about my probably shattered beyond repair jaw, forget about the fact that Korey probably hates me now and just swim.

I step out of the water and sprint the fifty meters to the Cornucopia. I'm an athletics person; it clears my mind like nothing else. I hear Korey come up behind me, but don't acknowledge her as I scan the Cornucopia for anything good. I'd love a trident, but I have a feeling I'm not going to find one of those so I try to find a good spear or a set of knives. Nothing. It seems as if all the half decent weapons have been removed, leaving a few small knives and survival stuff.

"Are you noticing that all these weapons are crap too?" Korey asks.

I nod. "Yeah. It's all survival except for a couple small knife kits."

She curses under her breath.

I ignore her and pick up the knife kit. Inside is a a three inch blade and a small pen knife. I open the pen knife and run it across my thumb, opening an inch long cut.

"Sh*t, it's sharp," I mutter, sucking on my thumb to try to stop the bleeding.

Korey says something under her breath, probably about how stupid that was, but I don't catch it.

I pocket the knife kit and turn to her. "Ready to go?"

She nods and we walk to the beach and we dive into the water.

**...**

I'm not sure why, but something about the water seems off. I'm not sure what, but it's putting me on edge, so I speed up a bit so I can get out the water before something happens.

And then an unnaturally large wave comes causing me to somersault so that my head is facing down.

Crap.

They told us what to do when this happens back in Four. I robotically go through the motions, but it's not helping.

We learned about how drowning works in school. You're body literally turns your breathing off so you don't take in water. You have until you run out of breath to surface or you go unconscious, shortly followed by cardiac arrest.

I'm running out of breath.

I decide I just need to surface, and rocket upward as quickly as I can.

That's when I realize how far underwater I am. At least ten feet. That was one d*mn big wave.

I don't have the energy to surface now. My vision's already getting blurry and my chest hurts.

F—.

I think about that dream I had, about me drowning.

Guess that was more than just a dream.

That's my last thought before everything fades to black.

**...**

**A/N: Yes that was really short, but I wanted to end it there. I've already gotten a good amount of the next chapter done, so hopefully you'll see it soon, although I will be super busy the next two weeks. For the beginning (before Finnick goes to sleep) I was listening to Lucy by Skillet. It's a great song but kind of sad. Anyway, cliffy, but it's probably pretty cliché since I bet every one of you can guess what's going to happen at the beginning of the next chapter. Maybe even submit your guesses in your review and I could give out some kind of prize for the person who is closest? (naming a character or something). And yeah, I've never almost drowned or been knocked unconscious so if you have and found that unrealistic I'm sorry.**

**Please review, I really appreciate the feedback!**

**-cindella204**


	15. Part I Chapter 14

**SHOUT OUTS:**

**"gege109": Thanks so much for the two reviews and favorite author! Unfortunately, you don't have PM'ing turned on so I couldn't do review replies like I usually do. To all my readers in general, please reviewed signed with PM'ing turned on because I reply to every review, and it doesn't give any personal information.**

**Special shout out for "The Ice Within" who's reviewed every chapter! Love ya Icy!**

**Special thanks also to "Floracat", "Bros4Life", "shieldmaiden19", "Hell's demon butterfly", and "hunger games fan z1z" for reviewing the previous chapter!**

**...**

**DISCLAIMER:**

**There are several concepts, characters, and real life things that I use and/or mention in this chapter that I don't own. These include but are not limited to the Hunger Games, Finnick Odair, Mags, and Gamemakers.**

**...**

**A/N: Enjoy the chapter, but please read the bottom A/N, there's important stuffs!**

**...**

**IN THIS CHAPTER: **Mild adult language, Moderate violence, Mild intense/frightening scenes

**...**

**CHAPTER 14**

I'm lying in the sand. The sun's in my eyes. Lips on mine. Irlissa. Blowing into my mouth. I cough. She leans back. No, Korey. Wait, what the h*ll?

"Korey? What's going on?" I ask as I sit up. My throat feels dry and scratchy, and my voice sounds worse. Talking starts a stabbing pain throughout my jaw.

She just stares at me for a moment, frozen. She's been crying; her eyes are puffy.

And she freaks out and hugs me.

Okay, what the heck did I miss?

"Oh my God, Finnick! I thought you were dead!"

What?

And then it all comes back.

The wave.

Trying to surface.

Struggling.

Thinking I was going to die.

Going unconscious.

She wasn't kissing me. She was giving me mouth to mouth resuscitation. CPR. Trying to revive me.

Honestly I'm surprised she even bothered.

I tell her this.

"You were drowning. You were going to die. You expected me to let you die?" She asks.

"I was just surprised you didn't slit my throat in my sleep."

"Okay Finnick, I was kind of p*ssed, but did you really think I'd betray you like that?" she asks, sounding a little hurt.

"Umm...just in case you didn't notice, this is the Arena. That's what people do in here. So yeah, I did. Don't take it personally."

She nods. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Uh huh. Where are we?"

"Right where the jungle, desert, and oasis meet," she answers.

"Can we go back to camp?"

She nods and hands me my stuff. "Look, Finnick, I'm sorry about that whole thing, it just hit a nerve and I honestly shouldn't have—"

"Korey, why the h*ll are you apologizing?"

"Because I was being a condescending jerk."

I sigh. "Korey, you did nothing wrong. You were trying to help, I was tired and oversensitive and freaked out, and you got upset, which you should've. It was my fault and I'm sorry. End of conversation."

"But Finnick—"

"Korey."

And she falls silent.

**...**

Breakfast the next morning is a slice of quiche for Korey and an unidentifiable puree that tastes like crab for me. Having a broken jaw sucks, not even because of the pain, but because I can't eat real food. Korey and I decide to go to the jungle because she wants some vines or grasses to weave a net, and I want to scout it again. We swim through the oasis and enter the jungle with no problems. Maybe, it'll be a good day.

**...**

"Hey Korey, is this what you want?" I ask, pulling at thick vine hanging off one of the trees.

She turns toward me.

"Yeah, perfect."

I clumsily climb up the trunk of the tree and pull my small knife out of my belt, cutting out vines until I have stripped that tree and all in the vicinity. I climb down, almost falling**[1]**, and turn to where Korey's standing.

She's not there.

Crap.

I block out everything else around me and listen.

Footsteps.

I throw the vines over my shoulder and sprint towards the noise, noticing how incredibly loud I am, but not caring.

No cannon yet.

I burst into a clearing where I find Korey ten feet off the ground in a tree cutting vines.

You've got to be flipping kidding me.

I catch my breath for a second before yelling up to her.

"Korey!"

She looks down, and smiles when she sees me. "Oh, hey Finnick."

"Where the h*ll did you go?"

She raises an eyebrow.

"Are you feeling okay? I'm right here."

"Korey, you can't just _leave_ like that! I was thinking that Diamond or someone came and picked you up and were slowly torturing you delaying the cannon!"

Her face clouds, and she mumbles something I can't make out from the distance I'm standing.

"What?"

She shakes her head, and her eyes refocus. "Nothing, nothing. Anyway, sorry. I forgot."

I nod. "It's fine. Are we good to head back?"

She nods and scampers down the tree. "Let's go."

I follow behind her with my gun on my shoulder and a knife on my belt. Things have gone too…right today, and I'll be surprised if we get back to camp without any Gamemaker intervention.

Something shifts in the foliage in front of us and both Korey and I go on hyperdrive, hands on weapons.

An animal emerges.

Not sure what it is, but it's foaming at the mouth and wants to kill us.

I motion for Korey to stay back behind me and send six darts into its side.

Nothing. Must be immune to the cyanide.

It growls. Wait a minute…

When it opens its mouth I shoot, causing it to choke on a dart. Now that it's distracted Korey sneaks close enough to it to get a pinpointed shot into its forehead with a considerable amount of force using one our knives.

Dead.

Korey turns and smirks at me, and I raise an eyebrow.

Shouldn't those roles be reversed?

"As amazing as that was, we need legitimate weapons. I don't think that would work on a person."

I nod. "Hey Mags, Odalys, sponsors? Can we get legitimate weapons?"

I know I'm being incredibly pushy, but we really need the weapons and we may have the sponsors for it.

Korey starts humming.

"Please?" I say to the air around me.

Two parachutes. Okay, so maybe please really is the magic word. One lands at my feet and one at Korey's. As I rip off the package I catch a glimpse of sparkly, almost like a diamond. Sparkly weapon? I pull the last of the parachute off.

Oh.

My.

Freaking.

God.

A trident.

A silver trident. I look for the sparkle. And then I notice three small rings around the top of the shaft.

A blue aquamarine. Like my mom's engagement ring that she hasn't taken off since my dad died.

Diamond. Like the bracelet I bought Irlissa on our one year anniversary. Though this one looks like it's actually real.

And a leather strap. Lance.

Not only has Mags given me a capable weapon, she's given me the three people I'm fighting for.

"Oh my—wow." I turn and hope a camera's on me. "Thank you Mags, Odalys, and most of all, every one of you sponsors who donated their own money to pay for this. Thank you."

I turn to Korey who is holding a double bladed broadsword almost identical to the one she trained with, but a lot nicer. It's beautiful, really.

"I'd like to thank my sponsors as well, and our wonderful mentors Mags and Odalys. Thank you."

I spin the trident in my hand. I don't actually have a place to put a trident. It's too long to go in one of the loops on my belt, and there's not a place for it on my gun holster.

Two more parachutes. Maybe that's something.

I open mine to find another holster, identical to the one I have for my gun now but with a cross strap underneath the gun for the trident, shoulder straps in the front, and it's own utility belt attached to it. Awesome.

"New holster?" Korey asks.

I nod. "Yeah. You?"

"Back holster for the sword that goes from shoulder to opposite hip and connected utility belt."

We make eye contact and must be thinking the same thing because we say in unison, "Thanks Mags, Odalys, sponsors."

"Now what?" Korey asks.

"Let's get the new stuff setup now, that way if something happens we're ready."

She nods.

I sit at the base of a tree and start sorting out my stuff.

**...**

Korey and I quickly finish and start to head back to camp.

Footsteps.

For God's sake, what now?

Korey looks at me. _Did you hear that?_

I nod, and my hand goes to the neck of my trident above my left shoulder.

Voices, multiple. Not the careers. So they're probably won't go out of their way to fight us. Good. I don't feel like killing anyone today.

"This way," I hiss to Korey, nodding with my head. I want to make sure. I don't feel like _getting_ _killed_ today either.

She nods and follows me.

Knife.

I drop into a squat with one hand on the ground as a rusty knife flies above my head.

Okay, the gloves are coming off now.

I turn to Korey, and she nods.

Weapons out.

The footsteps get louder and louder until three figures emerge from the trees in front of us.

Nostrum, the dude from Six, the girl from Eight, the girl from Eleven.

What the h*ll?

Nostrum's eyes widen a bit, and then he smirks at me.

"Odair."

"Jenkins," I reply.

"Trident?"

"Sponsors."

"Spoiled."

"B*tch."

Korey is fidgeting next to me, high on the adrenaline rush of a fight.

Nostrum and I just stare at each other. Awkward.

And Eleven girl lunges at Korey with a short dagger.

Korey parries with the new sword, pushes her head forward with her left hand and slits her throat.

Cannon.

"Next," Korey says, moving in front of Eight girl.

Nostrum charges at me and I drop down again, wrap an arm around his ankles, and pull him down, then using his body weight to push myself up. It works, although he catches me just above the right eyebrow with his knife, and blood is dripping into my eye. Not much, it's a small wound, but enough for it to be slightly annoying.

I step on his chest to keep him from getting up and then step back slightly, pressing the trident to his chest.

"Goodnight."

Cannon.

Cannon.

I turn to see that Korey has slain Eight girl.

I nod at her but don't say anything as I look for some moss to clean off the trident.

**...**

**FOOTNOTES**

**1. **We established in Chapter 7 that Finnick stinks at climbing trees

**...**

**A/N: Hey guys! I was gone for November doing NaNoWriMo (I was too busy for 50K :( but I got 20K+) with an original fiction, but I'm back! It was a lot of fun though :D If you're wondering, yes Finnick's jaw is still screwed up, but the reason I'm not talking about it as much is one because it's starting to heal and two, I've already talked about it a million times and it's getting old. I did mention it though, just in case you forgot. I got this new software called Scrivener, it's awesome, check it out, I can't do links here but you can put in Google. Now for the important stuff, Part 1 of this story will be ending relatively soon (eight chapters if I don't change anything), and at the end of Part One I will be doing something special for my TOP 3 reviewers! Those three (or more if there is a tie) will be able to give me any prompt they want as long as it's Hunger Games and I will write a 500+ word oneshot for you as a thank you gift :) I'm serious about this, reviewing is important to me and I really appreciate it, so this will be my way to say thank you. Right now my lead is "The Ice Within" who has reviewed every chapter, but second and third place are still up for grabs.**

**Please review, I really appreciate the feedback!**

**-cindella204**


	16. Part I Chapter 15

**DON'T GET USED TO THIS! I'VE SPONTANEOUSLY HAD TIME, BUT THAT WON'T LAST LONG WITH MIDTERMS COMING UP VERY SOON (after Christmas break).**

**...**

**SHOUT OUTS:**

"**The Ice Within" has still reviewed every chapter. Thanks so much Icy!**

"**QueenCobraWing"! New reader, reviewed _Every. Darn. Chapter._ Thank you so much!**

**Special thanks also to "shieldmaiden10", "Floracat", "God1810", and "connerlocke" for reviewing the previous chapter!**

**Thanks to [username] for helping me [help]!**

**...**

**DISCLAIMER:**

**There are several concepts, characters, and real life things that I use and/or mention in this chapter that I don't own. These include but are not limited to the Hunger Games and Finnick Odair.**

**...**

**A/N: The reviews since Saturday's update! Nineteen total, twelve in twenty-four hours, six on the last chapter. Thanks a million guys! I know some people mentioned seeing how Finnick reacts to taking lives. You'll see it...after he gets out of the arena. Why? You'll see at the end of this chapter. So go ahead and read it.**

**...**

**IN THIS CHAPTER: **Moderate adult language, Moderate intense/frightening scenes, moderate violence

**...**

**CHAPTER 15**

The next day at about 23 hundred I sit keeping watch and trying to gather my thoughts. It's down to the final eight, and the whole "don't kill _or_ be killed" thing isn't going to last much longer. I think yesterday proved that. But—

A figure. What the heck? No one ever comes to the desert, that's why _we're_ here.

Alessandra. Running for her life.

And then something, I can't tell what it is from this far, hits her square in the center of her back and she falls.

Cannon.

To be honest, I'm not all that worried about her dying at the moment. What I'm worried about is who killed her.

Another figure comes into view.

Obsidian.

And I need to kill him. I may never get this chance, and at this point, any careers that can be eliminated should be. I'd rather not have to actually fight him, and I'm not throwing the trident. If for some reason the Gamemakers decide they don't want me to kill him and create some magic wind, I do _not_ want to lose that.

Knife then.

Seeing as he's running, I know I need to aim in front of where he actually is. It's like a sick algebra problem back in school.

"Obsidian is running 400 meters per minute. It will take Finnick's knife approximately four-seconds to reach him once he throws it. How far in front of Obsidian does Finnick need to throw the knife for it to hit him?"**[1]** 1

Can't do that one in my head, so I'll just have to guess-timate.

I pull my larger knife out of my belt and hurl it towards him.

Head shot.

Cannon.

Korey sits up, startled, and looks around.

"What just happened?"

"Obsidian killed Alessandra, I killed him."

"Did you, like, fight?" she asks.

"No. Threw a knife at his head from, uhh…ten meters away."

She nods. "Nice. I'm up now, so go to sleep."

I nod. "Night Korey."

**...**

I wake up feeling the best I have since the first day.

"Mornin' Korey."

"Oh, hey Finnick. Nothing happened since you went to sleep."

"Good, I suppose," I say as two parachutes float to the ground.

Today's unidentifiable puréed breakfast. Hurrah.

"What's the plan?" She asks, as she digs into a fresh, delicious looking, and _solid_ bowl of shrimp.

"Traps. There's six of us left; sitting around and waiting for people to die isn't really going to work anymore. If we run into people, we kill them."

She nods but doesn't respond. And I have a feeling I know what she's thinking. Six left, and we can't both make it out.

Moving on from those depressing thoughts…

"Did you finish the net you started yesterday?"

"Yeah, I did it while you were asleep."

Just what I was hoping for.

"Cool, let's go."

**...**

Korey and I spend a couple of hours setting up various net related traps, with a small lunch at about noon.

On the way back to camp, I here someone crashing through the forest.

_If we run into people, we kill them._

I pull my trident out of my holster, and Korey does the same with her sword.

Gregory from ten and a dude I don't recognize come barreling into the clearing. What's up with all the non-career alliances this year? It's kind of annoying seeing as Korey and I can't double team, which is something we trained for pretty extensively and are _really_ good at.

I don't have to make any decisions because Gregory hurls a knife at me.

I'm getting really tired of freaking knives.

My trident's shaft is pretty thin so I'm about to duck like I did yesterday when Korey steps in front of me and deflects it with her sword, catching the hilt in her hand flawlessly.

I never cease to be impressed by her. Not that I couldn't have pulled that off with a more suitable weapon.

Gregory yells for his friend, Cason from Five, to "take care of me."

Which, honestly, what kind of idiot sends their young and unprepared ally to fight me?

Is he _trying_ to get him killed, but doesn't have the guts to kill him himself or something?

Lame.

But fine. If he wants me to kill him, then I will.

Strategy: hand to hand combat, finish it with the trident. I slide it back into the holster and just let my training take over.

Until I get shoved to the ground.

Someone above me, Korey, gasps.

D*mmit, she got hit.

I turn to see that Cason got knocked down under me, and see true fear in his eyes. Not a talented fighter with a powerful ally. A scared, manipulated, fourteen-year old looking for mercy.

Too d*mn bad. This is the Hunger Games and twenty-three people have to die.

Trident through his heart, cannon.

Now Gregory. I look around, but can't find him.

"Where the h*ll did he go?"

Korey shakes her head. "No clue. I was trying to deal with this knife, and when I looked back up he was gone. Speaking of the knife, can you pull this out?"

I beckon her toward me with my head and take a seat at the base of a stubby tree.

She stiffens as I place my hand around the wound on the back of her shoulder and pull the knife out.

We're both silent for a second, and then she mutters the f word under her breath.

"What? It's not that bad. I can fix that in, like, two-seconds."

"Don't send a parachute," she calls out.

"Why the h—"

She takes the knife out of my hand and _smells_ it.

"Blood…and bitter almonds."

Oh F—.

"Cyanide. Looks like you weren't the only one who got one of those vials. And I can already feeling my shoulder and arm numbing. So if you have anything important to say, now's the time, because you have about three minutes."

Oh God no. I can't even—

I'm not sure if she starts it, or I start it, or if we both think the same thing at the same time and it just happens, but we end up locked in an intense kiss. Not out of love, or friendship, or longing, or putting off the inevitable.

Out of desperation.

She pulls away, mildly shocked, and takes the clasp off her necklace.

"Take it. I want it out of the arena. Keep it. And feel free to reuse to the stone, that could make a nice ring for some incredibly lucky girl one day."

I ignore the indirect compliment.

"Finnick, it's been great."

"Korey—"

Her voice gets continually raspier and quieter as the poison travels closer to the heart and vocal cords.

"Everything. From that first day of General Weapons 301 to now."

Her eyes close and each breath becomes labored.

"Win."

She slumps to the ground, and a few seconds later the cannon comes.

For the first time in four years, I completely turn off.

It was something I started to learn after dad died, and mastered soon after Lecia's Games.

I can kind of turn off my feelings, emotion, etc., not quite sure how it works but it's like being a robot. Do what you need to do and move on.

And that's what I need right now.

Because I'm sick and tired of this f—ing arena and I'm doing whatever it takes to get out of this h*llhole.

**...**

**FOOTNOTES**

**1. **16 and ⅔ meters. I did the math, a proportion and then basic multiplication.

**...**

**A/N: Do you understand why we aren't going to see Finnick's reaction to killing yet? Anyway, the next chapter should be up soon because I'm really motivated to work on the story lately, but the next one will probably be the hardest to write yet for me, and I'm not uploading crap. New story related images on dA. Profile links have been disabled, but go to cindella204(dot)deviantart(dot)com to check them out. And review, I'm still doing those stories for the top 3 when Part 1 ends. Two more chapters in the arena! And as always:**

**Please review, I really appreciate the feedback!**

**-cindella204**


	17. Part I Chapter 16

_**Yes, I did it again, but still don't get used to it unless you want to be disappointed.**_

**...**

**SHOUT OUTS:**

"**The Ice Within" has still reviewed every chapter! Thank you so much, Icy!**

**Same with "QueenCobraWing". You rock!**

**...**

**DISCLAIMER:**

**There are several concepts, characters, and real life things that I use and/or mention in this chapter that I don't own. These include but are not limited to the Hunger Games and Finnick Odair.**

**...**

**A/N: Not as many reviews this time :( Oh well, I don't write for reviews. This chapter is incredibly short, and very disturbing, but I think it's pretty important to the story.**

**...**

**IN THIS CHAPTER: **Moderate adult language, STRONG Intense/Frightening scenes, STRONG violence

**...**

**CHAPTER 16**

Alexander dies the next day. Not sure how; I didn't kill him. But on day nine it's just me, Gregory, and Diamond.

It's time.

I wake up that morning exhausted.

"Kor—"

Whoops. Almost forgot that Korey is dead. Silly me.

I drink breakfast **[1]** and make plans for the day.

I need Gregory dead. ASAP. If I could just kill him today, I could rest up tonight and take on Diamond tomorrow. Get out of here tomorrow.

I just scouted around in general yesterday, and I have a feeling he's somewhere near the edge of the savanna. I set a whole bunch of traps on the savanna side of the oasis, so maybe I'll get lucky and not even have to fight him.

But this is the Hunger Games so probably not.

Regardless, I pack up my stuff and head out.

**...**

I trek along the edges of the savanna, hyper-focused on my surroundings. Everything is pushed aside but my one goal for today: _Kill. Gregory._

I continue through the grass silently, and stop short after scanning the ground in front of me.

A half-dead Gregory lies in front of me, looking like he was attacked by some kind of animal.

Apparently the Gamemakers weren't that thrilled by him killing Korey.

Killing Korey.

A detrimental surge of anger tears through me. F— killing him; I'm going rip that b*stard to shreds.

Hmmm…

Gregory looks up for the first time since I arrived, and swallows, the fear reflected in his eyes. "Odair."

"Hi there, Gregory," I spit, giving a sadistic smile.

"Feel free to kill me," he states.

"Awww…I wanted to have some fun," I whine, tossing and catching the case to my knife kit.

I kneel on top of his chest, and seeing as he is to weak to offer any resistance, do what I want.

"You know, I've always had a slight interest in the visual arts, but never the time or energy to pursue it. Now I can try it out on you."

I take out a stiletto**[2] **and create a deep curve. Blood spills out, coating the knife and running down his face, and I see him wince.

It's intensely…rewarding.

I continue with my "picture", and not until I'm finished do I realize I've carved a portrait of Korey into his forehead. It's actually pretty good for a monochromatic image carved into something as inconsistent as human skin.

"What'd you draw?" he asks hoarsely. I'm surprised he's still capable of talking.

"Korey. Even when you're dead she'll still be a part of you."

"Good. Are you done now?"

I was going to be, but now that he asked…

"Nah."

I go ahead and use him as a canvas, carving various designs, just because it's prettier than randomly cutting into people. An appalling beauty. I like it. I try to stay away from vital areas like the wrists and the jugulars because I don't want him to bleed out. That's not how he's going to die.

Once I get bored I take my gun off my back and shoot him once in each hand and foot, knowing the cyanide'll take care of him eventually. I wait until it does, stab him through the heart with the trident for looks, and walk away.

**...**

**FOOTNOTES**

**1.** Not a typo, he can't eat solid food, remember?

**2. **The knife or dagger with a needle-like blade, not some chick's high heels

**...**

**A/N: Definitely not sure it was my best; I'm not very good at writing near psychotic fourteen year olds. Don't worry, it's not permanent. Please let me know what you think! And the next chapter will be the last in the arena O_O**

**Please review, I really appreciate the feedback!**

**-cindella204**


	18. Part I Chapter 17

**EDIT: I REWROTE IT 'CAUSE IT SUCKED. SO REREAD. FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ALREADY REVIEWED, I'M SORRY AND I'LL COUNT IT AS TWO IF YOU REVIEW AGAIN EVEN THOUGH IT'S THE SAME CHAPTER. YOU MAY HAVE TO REVIEW UNSIGNED THOUGH. **

**...**

**SHOUT OUTS:**

**Special shout out for "QueenCobraWing" who's reviewed every chapter!**

**Same with "The Ice Within" :D**

**Special thanks also to "God1801" and "Floracat" for reviewing the previous chapter!**

**...**

**DISCLAIMER:**

**There are several concepts, characters, and real life things that I use and/or mention in this chapter that I don't own. These include but are not limited to the Hunger Games, Finnick Odair, and the Cornucopia.**

**Lyrics from the song "Helena (So Long and Goodnight)" are featured in this chapter. The song was written by lyricists Gerard Way, Frank Iero, Ray Toro, Mikey Way, and Matt Pelissier, performed by My Chemical Romance, and produced by their record company, in using them in this chapter I am in no way claiming ownership or involvement in the writing, producing, and selling of this song. The lyrics will be bolded and italicized with a footnote citing them.**

**...**

**IN THIS CHAPTER: **Moderate adult language, Moderate violence, Moderate intense/frightening scenes

**...**

**CHAPTER 17**

I wake up at about oh-zero hundred**[1]**, the next day, planning to track down Diamond. If I could somehow sneak up on her asleep, I could get this done pretty easily. Although that seems almost too easy. I pack up my stuff, and as I walk away I think, _Hopefully I won't be coming back._

_**...**_

After two hours of intense tracking, I find Diamond, asleep, inside the Cornucopia. Score. I sneak up to her and I'm about to send my trident through her heart when I hear something snarl behind me, and Diamond jumps up startled.

D*mmit. Stupid Gamemakers.

I turn to find around twenty something animals.

_Carnivorous wildebeests._

Oh sh*t. As I look around I realize these aren't the same carnivorous wildebeests the careers encountered. Diamond is frozen behind me, and they look _just_ like the other tributes, but in a wildebeest form. Same hair color, same eye color, relatively the same size. And out of the corner of my eye I notice one with black hair, sea green eyes, and matching stripe down it's side.

Not real.

I pull the last real knife out of my belt and whip it towards her. I can't deal with that right now.

I try to stay aware of Diamond, but my main focus is these God forsaken mutts. We have an unspoken agreement that she'll take the left and I'll take the right, working through the bloodbath deaths and eventually reaching the careers. I find the cyanide useless as expected, so it's just the trident; lunging, and spinning, and ducking, and diving.

Alessandra. Have to kill her—it.

Keep going.

Only two left, Gregory and Obsidian. Both murdered by _moi_.

Diamond throws her axe at Gregory, killing him/it but leaving her weaponless. Obsidian runs towards Diamond, and in some kind of stupor she allows it to thrust it's horns into her stomach. She falls to the ground, alive but bleeding heavily, and "Obsidian" takes off, stopping about ten meters away from me.

I know what the Gamemakers are trying to do. I can't deal with Diamond until it's dead, but if I throw my trident I won't have a weapon.

F—ing Capitol.

I throw the trident anyway, a perfect shot killing the wildebeest. Good. Now there's Diamond who is hopefully too weak to fight me.

I kneel down on her chest, and she takes a deep breath before punching my shattered jaw. Not particularly hard, but it didn't need to be. Lightning white pain shoots through me, and I bite my lip to keep from screaming.

I stand and kick her in the head. Her head snaps back, but she's still not dead. She uses my leg to pull herself up and rakes her fingernails down my face, missing my left eye by less than a centimeter.

Blood is still pouring out of the stomach wound and I'm not sure how she's still standing.

If I can get her trapped under me I can strangle her…

I kick her in the stomach and she stumbles but doesn't fall.

"Can I get a weapon d*mmit?"

A parachute floats down, and I jump up and catch it, revealing a long dagger. Good enough.

I lunge forward, and she catches my elbow and twists my arm behind me painfully.

When did she learn to fight? She sucked in the bloodbath!

I kick her ankle out from under her and as she lets go of me I stab the dagger into her stomach wound, and she finally falls. I practically jump on top of her before she can get back up.

Now or never.

"_**So long and goodnight**_**[2]**," I whisper as I bring the dagger across her throat and the cannon goes off.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to present the victor of the Sixty-fifth Hunger Games, Finnick Odair!"

The g*dd*mn Hunger Games are over.

**...**

**FOOTNOTES**

**1. **Midnight.

**2. **Helena (So Long and Goodnight) by My Chemical Romance from the album Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. No copyright infringement intended.

**...**

**A/N: For those of you who read the original I hope this is better. That was the last chapter in the arena. No knock down drag out fight, I felt this was better for a cold, calculated, and apathetic ending. The next chapter will be short, but you guys will get to see how Finnick will react to all this.**

**Please review, I really appreciate the feedback!**

**-cindella204**


	19. Part I Chapter 18

**SHOUT OUTS:**

**Special thanks to "God1801" (x2), "Floracat", "Saltey", "Jeldaly" (x4), "Shelly999999999", "Shieldmaiden19", and "The Ice Within" for reviewing the previous chapter or the one before that!**

**To the anonymous poet who left me that lovely review, thank you so much! I'm honored that my story is worth poetry!**

**...**

**DISCLAIMER:**

**There are several concepts, characters, and real life things that I use and/or mention in this chapter that I don't own. These include but are not limited to the Hunger Games, Finnick Odair, avoxes, District Four, Mags, Caesar Flickerman, President Snow, Claudius Templesmith, the Victor's Banquet, and the Training Center.**

**Lyrics from the song "Let's Kill Tonight" are featured in this chapter. The song was written by lyricists Brendon Urie and Spencer Smith, performed by Panic! at the Disco, and produced by their record company, in using them in this chapter I am in no way claiming ownership or involvement in the writing, producing, and selling of this song. The lyrics will be bolded and italicized with a footnote citing them.**

**Lyrics from the song "The Ghost of You" are featured in this chapter. The song was written by lyricists Gerard Way, Frank Iero, Ray Toro, Mikey Way, and Matt Pelissier, performed by My Chemical Romance, and produced by their record company, in using them in this chapter I am in no way claiming ownership or involvement in the writing, producing, and selling of this song. The lyrics will be bolded and italicized with a footnote citing them.**

**...**

**A/N: School got crazy, sorry! This is the second longest chapter ever though :)**

**Hey guys, as I'm sure you noticed from the disclaimer, this chapter features songs :) Go ahead and copy the links below into new tabs in your browser, replace the (colon) with ":" etc, but don't press enter, go, return, whatever because the links make the video start exactly where the lyrics start in my writing. The songs affect the writing in my opinion, so please look at them!**

**Song 1: Let's Kill Tonight: Panic at the Disco**

**http(colon)(backslash)(backslash)youtu(dot)be(backslash)uu2XSQgdQDY?hd=1&t=45**

**Song 2: The Ghost of You: My Chemical Romance**

**http(colon)(backslash)(backslash)youtu(dot)be(backslash)uCUpvTMis-Y?t=2m49s**

**...**

**IN THIS CHAPTER: **Strong Adult Language (Long chapter=more cursing), Strong intense/frightening scenes, Strong violence

…

**CHAPTER 18**

A hovercraft comes and picks me up, freezing me once again on the ladder. I look for Mags, Jayde, Elesah, anyone, but the only people on the hovercraft are a couple of doctors arguing in hushed voices. I notice something shiny in the corner of my eye, and I'm drawn to a mirror. I probably don't look so hot after ten days without a shower.

Oh. My. _God_.

The dirt and blood, some of which is still flowing, is bad enough, but my broken jaw is obviously not healing correctly, and leaves my entire face…disfigured, with it swollen in some places and caving in in others. My hair is oily and matted, falling all over my face, and I swear I look insane. Dear God.

We land on the Training Center roof, and slowly everything starts to come back.

First pain. Apparently the adrenaline of the arena was blocking some of it, because my whole face feels like it's on fire, and it takes everything in me to stop the tears.

Next guilt. Six lives, that weren't mine to take. What right did I have that they didn't. None so—

Then grief. Korey. Biggest rival, training partner, friend…Gone.

The emotions keep layering, one over the other, and I let out some hybrid of a sob and a scream. One of the doctors looks up startled, and after a few words a nurse comes up behind me and sends a needle into my arm, causing everything to fade away.

**...**

I wake up in a big white room with no windows and doors. Two wires are connected to my right wrist, and ankle restraints bind me to the bed. I'm sure I'm being monitored on a camera, so I open my mouth to speak.

But I can't actually open my mouth.

What the f—?

I try again, but I still can't do it, although my jaw feels a lot better. My lips open, but not my teeth. And there's something on my them. Metal, I think. It feels really weird.

Eventually I give up on talking and sit on the bed, tapping my fingers on the frame. I consider pulling out one of the wires just to see if anyone comes in, but decide against it just in case it's life support. I look down and realize I'm clean, and all the scars are gone. Even the ones from before the arena, from various fishing accidents. I run a hand through my hair, and find that clean and silky too.

Weird.

The wall slides open and an Avox walks in carrying a tray with a single metal canister on it. She doesn't make eye contact as she hands me the tray and walks out.

I can see my reflection in the canister, and I really do look good. Wait a minute…

Oh _sh*t_.

Where each tooth meets my gum is a little hook.

And thin wires criss-cross over my teeth from hook to hook.

So that's why I can't open my mouth, it's _wired shut_.

Doesn't the Capitol have fancy technology that can fix everything painlessly and effortlessly? So much for finally getting solid food.

I think about District Four. The salty breezes, raging ocean…home.

Either I fall asleep or they knock me out again, but I wake up the next morning with no wires or restraints, and a pair of clothes on the foot of my bed.

The same fancy sportswear I had in the Arena. I shake my head and quickly pull on the clothes before staring at the wall waiting for it to open. It does, and that same Avox is waiting with a little clip and some rectangle with a screen.

The clip goes on the collar of my jacket, and the Avox's fingers fly over the thing's screen.

"You type on the phone and then the speaker will…speak for you," says my voice, but definitely not me seeing as I can't open my mouth.

I guess the sound is coming from the clip?

The Avox comes and stands next to me, pointing at the "phone". As her fingers touch the letters they appear in a box, and when she touches "Speak" I hear my voice say the words on the screen.

She points at me and hands me the phone.

I carefully type out "Hey" and press "Speak".

"Hey."

Oh, okay. The Avox takes the phone back from me and touches a button labeled "Voices"

There's a whole bunch of choices including casual, formal, sexy, distressed, angry, and a whole bunch of others.

It's slightly creepy.

I fool around with it until I've figured out how it works, and thank the Avox who nods and walks away.

Mags, Jayde, and Elesah are waiting down the hall. I run toward them, and Mags gathers me in a hug.

"Congratulations, Finnick." She says with a smile.

I pull away and turn to Jayde. "No Cayne?" I type out, and the speaker thing speaks it out loud.

She shakes her head and is smiling bigger than I've ever seen her. "I'll tell you about it when I get you dressed later."

I nod and turn to Elesah. "Thank you."

She nods. "I'm proud of you. Seriously."

"Thanks."

Jayde smiles again, and then says, "You need to get ready because you have to go to recaps in a few hours."

I nod, too lazy to type a response, and follow behind her.

**...**

As Jayde leads me through a maze of hallways and eventually to the original styling room on our District floor, I ask, "Okay, so what happened?"

"Cayne got fired! They—"

"What?" I ask. Figured it be a good time to try out the shocked voice.

It's weird.

Jayde notices the phone for a first time and curses.

I raise an eyebrow, switching back to casual.

"You _just_ noticed that? And yeah, don't they have fancy stuff here so that you don't have to do this kind of thing?"

She sighs. "Yeah, but for some reason they thought they might not be able to use it. Something about your bone structure and how it broke…so you're stuck with that. Anyway, they fired Cayne. When you said that I was the one who did that design for interviews, and then I was the one who showed up on the start day too they decided she wasn't doing sh*t, and it violated all kinds of regulations, and I was interviewed by a whole bunch of creepers in business suits, anyway she's gone. I've been promoted to your full time head stylist, although I'll still have Ira help me with hair sometimes, and I need to go get your clothes for tonight, you're prep team is waiting."

She winks at me as she walks down the hallway, and I enter the room.

"Oh! My! God! FINNNNNIIICCCCKKKK!" Aliss squeals. "You look FANTASTIC! I was so worried when Korey punched you, that b*tch, and—"

I tune her out for the sake of my own mental stability.

"Aliss!" Ira snaps. "Would you get started already; Lallie and I can't start until you're finish!"

Lallie must be the new girl standing in the corner. She's a couple inches taller than Jayde with a natural skin tone covered in tattoos, all writing that I can't read from this distance. She has purplish-blue eyes framed in thick black glasses, and is scowling at Aliss like she's the cause for all the world's problems.

"Seriously Aliss. No one wants to listen to you talk anyway."

I think I might like her. She seems really different; her blonde hair is streaked with brown, and dark pink in the bangs, and tied into to thick braids. She's dressed in a collared shirt with a short plaid skirt and a pair of combat boots, no noticeable makeup except a bit of brown eyeliner. She seems almost…district. A career district, One, Two, or a rich Four, but she's not like the other Capitol people. Jayde isn't either though.

"Off," Aliss demands.

I glare at her but do as she commands, and she circles around me like a vulture.

"They did a full body polish, so I really don't need to do much," she states.

I step away from her and pull my underwear and pants back on.

"Good, GTFO**[1]**" Lallie snaps.

"Shut up b*tch," Aliss retorts but leaves the room, slamming the door on the way out.

After she leaves, Lallie walks up to me. "Hi Finnick. I'm Lallie Renshaw and I'll be taking Jayde's place on the prep team now that she's been promoted to head stylist. I'm sorry about Aliss, it's just we have really different philosophies on pretty much everything, and…yeah, I'm sorry."

I nod. "You're good," I say through my teeth. I don't have my phone out anymore.

"Alright, take a seat, I need to check out what they did with your jawline."

I do, and she runs her fingers over my jaw, muttering to herself about the various imperfections. It's _way_ better than before, but there are small flaws.

"This doesn't hurt, does it?"

"No."

She continues, and eventually pulls out a makeup palette. "Stage lights, spot on 3."

The lights adjust to her command like the ones back in our viewing room. "Shadowing, to make the jaw inconsistency less noticeable. It looks really different depending on the type of lights, so this replicates what they have on the actual stage."

I nod slightly.

"Hold still."

She uses a strange combination of liquids, creams, and powders, but it looks good when she finishes; natural, but totally covering everything. Not that it was that bad in the first place. Whatever the Capitol did fixed the basic structure, it was just a slightly unnatural line.

"Looks good," I say through my teeth, and she nods.

"Thanks. Ira!"

He nods and walks over to me. "We're going dark brown with natural streaks."

I groan.

"Going darker doesn't hurt nearly as much as going lighter. Dying your hair darker is like adding fish to a fish tank, but bleaching it is like smashing all the fish tanks."

I raise an eyebrow, then shake my head. Whatever.

Ira and Lallie start discussing their favorite parts of the Games. Not ready to relive that I try to tune them out, but a little voice in my head tells me that I'm going to in a couple hours anyway. I tell that little voice to shut up.

**...**

"Everyone, out!" I turn and see Jayde at the door. In the exhilaration of the reunion, I didn't notice how…normal she looks. Still the long black hair and red eyes, but her skin is a pale but natural tone, and she's wearing a red blouse and skinny jeans. _She_ could be district if it wasn't for the eyes.

"Alright Finnick, we don't have much time. Here's what I'm doing."

She hands me a pretty decent sketch of myself, wearing a black leather jacket, a solid sea green t-shirt, a pair of almost black jeans that are slim but not skinny, and a pair of mid-calf combat boots.

Huh.

"It's a darker look than usual. Hence the hair. Mysterious, dark, sexy. No makeup."

I nod.

"Cool. Change while I go get hair stuff."

What? I look around for my phone.

"No, it's not done. I had Ira wash, dye, and straighten it, but I did a basic hairdressing course while you were in the arena, and I have a pretty simple style planned, so I told him he had to let me do it myself."

I give her the, "oh, okay" look and proceed to get changed.

It's a simple enough outfit, but definitely makes a statement. I'm about go take a look in the full length mirror when Jayde returns.

"Alright, take a seat."

She begins to work a translucent gel through my hair. "Here's how this is going to work. I'm going to finish this up and then bring you to the launch area. Me and the prep team will then go get dressed, but Mags will probably visit you down there at some point before you go on. Then the prep team, Elesah, Mags, and I will go on, they'll send you up to the stage, Caesar will talk to you for about five minutes, and then your recap's on. After that straight to the President's mansion for your banquet, and then we're coming back here. Live interview tomorrow. Any questions?"

"Can I look in the mirror?"

"In a second. Go like this." She dramatically flips her hair.

I copy it and she nods, running her fingers through my new bangs. "Good, you can look now."

I jump up and run to the full size mirror, and Jayde comes up behind me.

It's actually not that bad all together, dark brown hair with highlights of my natural bronze, the leather jacket and t-shirt, dark wash jeans, and the combat boots. Pretty…conservative combat boots.

"Devil-may-care sexy." Jayde commands behind me.

I pose, and Jayde nods.

"Dark and enigmatic. Perfect. Now I'm taking you downstairs and then I have to come back here and get changed."

I nod and follow her, and we take the elevator down to the basement. The concept of a basement is fairly unfamiliar to me, but I'm pretty sure they don't usually look like this. Crisp white walls, shiny chrome furniture…it's weird. She leads me into a small room with about nine televisions in a square, the center displaying the time until launch and the surrounding ones showing various camera angles of the stage and crowd.

"T minus fifteen minutes, I need to go get changed, but I'll see you up top, okay?"

I nod, and she gives me a reassuring smile before she walks out.

Dear Lord, this is it. The arena is over, but this seems part of the Games just as much as my first interview. And I won't even have to talk today, just look good and watch myself kill people. And see one of my best friends die. And relive one of the most—

"Finnick."

I spin around to find Mags behind me, looking generally worried.

"Here's the deal. At the beginning, be sexy, you can do that. Once the recap starts, just stay neutral. Completely lock down if you can, no triumph, no excitement, no pleasure, no guilt, no remorse, nothing. Just look bored and unaffected. Got it?"

I nod.

"You can do this, and you'll be going home tomorrow. I've got to get backstage, but see you up top." She turns and leaves.

The same avox from earlier enters the room, runs a test on my speaker, and then leads me to the launch room.

As she lines me up correctly on the plate I can hear the anthem begin up on the stage. Time to go. The avox presses a button that makes a clear tube rise from the floor and continue up, presumably all the way to the stage, I guess so I can't decide to jump off the plate. Caesar Flickerman calls up Jayde and the prep team, and there is no mention of Cayne. Next is Elesah and Mags, and then my plate begins to rise. I quickly adjust my stance and facial expression. Devil-may-care sexy, like Jayde wanted.

The lights are so bright that I can't see two feet in front of me for a moment, and even once I can it's so loud that I feel disoriented. I keep my facial expression passive regardless, and saunter over to the victor's chair, a hideously ornate armchair made from some kind of special wool laced with gold. Caesar gets the crowd to more or less shut up, asks me a few questions to which I give cookie cutter answers, and then the show starts.

Here goes nothing.

It starts with me and Korey getting reaped. I remember how I annoyed I was with her when she went up there. Now it's seems so stupid…

Opening Ceremonies. It shows all of the tributes but focuses on Korey and I, and the suggestive soundtrack crossfades to the recap announcers' comments. I felt on top of the world then, like I could conquer anything. What a lie.

Our training scores flash across the screen with more comments, and then it goes to my interview, which is played in full. I actually did better than I expected, I'm a d*mn good actor.

And then the screen flicks to the deceptively beautiful oasis, and the gong rings. Now for the hard part.

The camera starts with Gregory who's plate is in the closest of the three corners of the oasis, and shows every tributes first move, jumping to the next plate, until they reach the back side where the careers and girl from Seven dive straight into the water. There are few things I wouldn't give to be in that water right now, even if it meant being back in the Arena. The dude from Three and both from Nine are shown drowning, and then it cuts to the bloodbath. The music is still faded so that you can hear Cladius' comments, but I swear at some point I hear _**"Let's kill tonight. Kill tonight. Show them all you're not the ordinary type."**_**[2]** Only the Capitol. The shots are abrupt and jerky, Seven girl getting rid of my trident, me searching the water for my trident, popping back up and killing Eight, helping Korey with Eleven, restraining Five, talking to Five, the girl from Seven killing the girl from Ten, Three getting killed and mutilated by Obsidian, Alexander and Korey finishing off Six…it's a lot. And for the first time I notice that although I only had one bloodbath kill, I was directly involved in two others. That puts me at what, eight? One third of the tributes in the arena. Eight teenagers just like me…no different than any of them. I bite the inside of my cheek and use the pain to focus myself. This is only the beginning.

The bloodbath ends, and it shows the tributes scatter and set up for the next couple days, mostly focusing on the career pack, although I do see Alessandra and her brother set up an entire camp in the Savanna. She does all the right things, uses the long grasses to her advantage as camouflage, doesn't light a fire because it would attract other people, sets up a watch system. Maybe that's why she scored a seven in training. She knows all the right things to do stay alive. Or did know all the right things to do. In the end she still got killed. The dude from Six, and the girls from Eight and Eleven ally right away, but Gregory and the guy from Five don't.

They show the careers set up their camp and go hunting, killing the guy from Seven. There is a brief clip of the wildebeest attack, and then it's me and Korey lighting the camp on fire and swimming away. Alexander wakes up first, gets Granite up, and then screams for Obsidian and Diamond since the blazing fire is in between the two tents and he can't actually get to them. He shouts for us too, but stops when he realizes that we are long gone. Obsidian seems to hear first and gets Diamond up, and they all run out into the jungle, leaving everything that's not on their person there. Once they get off the island is really when all h*ll breaks loose. Diamond accuses Alexander of planning this with us, and he replies incredulously that if he had planned it with us then why would he have still been there when the whole d*mn place was burning down. Obsidian points out that he was up first and got out in plenty of time. Granite starts attacking Obsidian to defend Alexander, it turns physical, and he beats her with his mace until she is well past dead. Alexander can't get to her in time and seeing that Diamond is about to kill him gets the h*ll out of there. The two from District One settle down in the jungle and Alexander ends up in the savanna, about half a kilometer from Alessandra and Alejandro. The camera flicks back to Korey and I setting up. Well that's lovely, another death that's indirectly my fault. Nine. Who knows, I might even get to half the tributes!

The video continues on to the next day, watching each of the tributes wake up, and then focusing on Korey and I. I suggest the jungle, and Korey asks if we can swim. Oh God, not this. We go to the jungle, have our snack, and start to head back.

No, no, no…

The scorpions. I kill them both easily, and she gets the first, and the second stings her. This time I can actually see her face as she more or less loses it. Terror. Mania. Hysteria. From an outside point of view I kind of seem like a b*stard getting upset with her. Lovely. I drag her back to camp, and the camera goes to Diamond sneaking up on Alessandra and Alejandro's camp. Alessandra's asleep and Alejandro is keeping watch. They have a pretty elaborate system although they don't have much. It's bright daylight but the grass provides good camouflage, and by time Alejandro notices Diamond she has one hand around his neck. Diamond saws his head off with some difficulty, and Alessandra wakes up to his gurgling screams. She sees Diamond, picks up the small knapsack lying next to her, and runs without looking back. Eventually she finally get's his head off and the cannon goes off. At this point the camera switches back to Korey and I, Korey is up now because of the cannon and screaming. They go through the thing of me taking her hand, and her actually swinging at me is put in slow motion. As I watch my jaw shatter, and the blood drip through my fingers, I can't help but wonder where I'd be if she wasn't my ally. Here and able to eat solid food, or dead and being shipped back to Four? There's really no way to know. They show me doing first aid and giving Korey the antidote, and then after a few short shots of the other tributes on the morning of Day 3 it goes to her waking up that night.

I'm such a freakin' idiot here.

I just stare at the screen, until it finally comes.

"Korey, I'm not your little sister, shut _up_!"

What the h*ll was my problem? I mean, so many careers end up in the arena with their district partners who betray them…I got one who actually cares, and I get p*ssed over nothing at all and decide to emotionally wound her to the best of my ability. She decides to to trust me and tell me all this stuff, I use it against her the first chance I get.

God, I'm screwed up.

They scan over the next day pretty fast, that is, until I drown. That they also show in slow motion with extra emphasis on me struggling to surface, and they zoom onto my face as I finally go unconscious. It's quite disturbing. Drowning in general was quite disturbing for me. There's something ten times more disconcerting about almost dying in your best element. Now I can see that a wave more than ten feet tall came from the cornucopia island and flooded a small portion of the desert, effectively drowning the girl from Seven, Abelia, who didn't have an ally to save her. Korey drags me out of the water and immediately starts CPR.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty."

She goes to do her two breaths, and I watch myself come to, dazed and baffled.

Well now I know the answer to my earlier question. I'd be dead and being shipped back to Four. They show our conversation afterwards, a couple of shots of various other tributes including Alessandra, and then it's Korey and I in the jungle. Fighting that animal, which Claudius calls a fossa.

The smirk on her face after she kills it brings back so many good times from over the last two years. Good times that will never be experienced again.

It's getting increasingly difficult for me to keep a straight face so I stop thinking about that and refocus on the film, which is now showing us getting our weapons. Then the first fight. My second direct kill, the guy from Six. This one actually involves fighting unlike the first; it's slightly unsettling to see how both of us turn mechanical and ruthless once the opportunity presents itself with no remorse. I guess that's what career training does. I've been watching the Games every year since I was five, and truly began to understand them after Lecia died at eight, but it's totally different when it's _yourself_ on the screen. Totally different.

Next is Gregory from Ten and the Five kid making their alliance. It's amazing the crap Gregory feeds him; a career couldn't have done better. They agree, and then it's Alexander, who we haven't seen for more than a minute in quite awhile. He has a pretty nice setup in the jungle, and they focus on him for about a minute before it's suddenly nighttime and Obsidian is stalking Alessandra. She is just inside the savanna near the desert border, the part of the desert that got flooded a couple days earlier. Not good. Unlike her brother she hears Obsidian in plenty of time and takes off running into the desert with Obsidian about a hundred fifty meters**[3]** behind her. As soon as they both get into the desert a swirling sandstorm starts, and it gets to the point where neither can see two feet in front of their faces and are just stumbling blindly in circles. It lasts for a good thirty minutes according to the announcers, but it's cut down to about thirty seconds in this video before they finally find their way out and she sprints ahead, but now Obsidian has caught up to her enough to throw the knife. I myself am not in view of the camera yet, but I know I watched this happen in real life. And then it turns to me. The look on my face…I look like some murdering psychopath calculating how he's going to kill his next victim. Oh, wait, that's because _I am_. I kill Obsidian, number three, and Korey wakes up.

Next day.

I don't want to watch this one.

The go through the entire day as quickly as possible until our fight with Gregory and Cason. Gregory sends Cason to fight me, but the cameras focus on Gregory and Korey instead of me and him so I get to see what I didn't see the first time, what ultimately killed her. They go into a melee with Korey a step ahead of him at all times, but he feints and then hurls a knife at me. Korey sees it coming, shoves me down, and then ducks, but it's a bit too late and she still takes the knife in the shoulder. It's actually not that bad of a wound; it wouldn't be more than an annoyance if the knife wasn't poisoned. Gregory feels that his duty has been done and runs off, while I kill Cason and tend to Korey. I keep my expression the same but stop actively watching, I can't see this again. I don't actually come back mentally until they boost the soundtrack so loud I can't help but pay attention to the lyrics.

"_**You are never coming home, never coming home. Never coming home, never coming home. And all the things that you never, ever told me. And all the smiles that are ever gonna haunt me. Never coming home, never coming home, could I? Should I? And all the wounds that are ever gonna scar me. For all the ghosts that are never gonna…"**_**[4]**

God, that's…right on.

And Korey dies as the song fades out.

No emotion, no emotion, no emotion, no emotion.

Next day, Alexander. Running out of the savanna to the oasis. Behind him are the same carnivorous wildebeests from day one. He dives into the water and starts frantically swimming toward the desert. Oh Lord, he's going to drown just like Seven girl. But he reaches the other side and crawls out onto the desert sand.

Wait a minute.

The same part of the desert where the flood and the sandstorm happened. It must be some kind of disaster zone.

And this time a wildfire starts coming from the direction of the savanna.

There isn't that much in the desert, but everything is dry and sets on fire immediately.

He tries to run, and for awhile it works, but then the fire swirls around him in a circle, and there's nowhere for him to go. The flames don't actually get close enough to touch him, but you can tell that the heat isn't good for him.

The video skips to ten minutes later, and he's flushed and panting.

Heat stroke.

So the "excitement" of Korey's death the day before wasn't enough for them.

Another skip, an hour later. The fire finally stops, but the heat has caused him to be so weak he can't get to the water.

_Untreated heatstroke can cause damage to the brain, heart, kidneys, and muscles, ultimately leading to death_.

Realizing how this is going to end, he reaches into his belt for a knife and attempts to pull it across his throat, but he misses the jugulars so it starts a steady blood flow but doesn't actually kill him.

I start biting my tongue again. The pain focuses me.

Two hours later he finally dies. Not sure if he bled out, or the heat stroke killed him. Does it matter?

Day Nine, Gregory, Diamond, and I. Focus on each of us getting up, then a feature on how Gregory got into the state I found him in. These really tall horse-like animals with spots that Claudius calls "giraffes" attack him and run away and then I come in.

Oh no.

I have to bite my tongue to keep from making a face as I watch myself carve Korey into his forehead. And then comes the "let's randomly draw designs on him for fun" part. I know I'm trying to look apathetic, so I make it look like I'm simply cracking my neck when I tilt my head back to swallow the vomit that's risen in my throat. Knowing what I was thinking at the time doesn't help. An "appalling beauty". Dear God I'm insane…probably permanently. I watch as I finally administer the cyanide and then stab him with the trident after he's already dead. The same thing I call Obsidian an "effin' psychopath" for during the bloodbath. What the h*ll have I become?

They show both Diamond and I set up for the night, and then get up the next morning. A minute of tracking, and then it's me sneaking up on Diamond and the wildebeest fight. The look on my face as I send the knife at the Korey wildebeest scares me more than anything else during this scene. I just look mildly annoyed. Like I'm totally over her death, and it's just a slightly unpleasant memory. It's…scary.

The fight with the wildebeests goes a lot faster when you're not in it, and then it's just me and Diamond.

Punch, kick, fingernails. Kick, jump, lunge, twist. Kick, stab, tackle, slit throat.

And that's the end.

President Snow comes out and gives me my crown, I smirk at the crowd and look sexy, and then it's time to go.

Victor's Banquet at Snow's mansion. All it consists of is me drinking more purées in canisters and playing sexy to _lots and lots_ of girls. And then it's back to the Training Center.

I go home tomorrow.

**...**

**FOOTNOTES**

**1. **Text language for Get the f— out. Didn't feel like cursing or using a traditional euphemism.

**2. **Let's Kill Tonight by Panic! at the Disco from the album Vices & Virtues. No copyright infringement intended.

**3. **Just under a tenth of a mile

**4. **The Ghost of You by My Chemical Romance from the album Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. No copyright infringement intended.

**...**

**A/N: I need ideas from you guys! I need to get rid of Irlissa within three months of Finnick getting home, but I don't want to kill her. Ideas? Let me know in your reviews and I may choose one if it's better than the "just okay" idea I have.**

**Secondly, two more chapters in Part 1, Chapter 20 will be the last! Three days after posting Chapter 20 I will count up reviews and PM my winners about the prompts, so go ahead and review!**

**-cindella204**


	20. Part I Chapter 19

**SHOUT OUTS:**

**Special shout out for QueenCobraWing who's reviewed every chapter!**

**Special shout out for The Ice Within as well!**

**Special thanks also to God1801, Floracat, Shieldmaiden19, LittleHellCat, Sherlein for reviewing the previous chapter!**

**Thanks to QueenCobraWing for giving me an awesome idea that you will see in the next chapter, Part 2, or both! And I kind of used a phrase from one of her reviews...**

**...**

**DISCLAIMER:**

**There are several concepts, characters, and real life things that I use and/or mention in this chapter that I don't own. These include but are not limited to the Hunger Games, Finnick Odair, the Training Center, Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing, iPhone, Vaseline, District Four, Victor's Village, Nike, Caesar Flickerman, and the Victory Tour.**

**...**

**A/N: Some stats for the story:**

**45,382 words (No footnotes, A/N's, etc., just the story)**

**183 pages in a book the size of THG's US hardcover**

**20 chapters including the prologue**

**101 reviews**

**4,003 hits**

**19 favorites**

**25 alerts**

**Wow guys, thanks so much!**

**...**

**IN THIS CHAPTER: **Strong adult language, Mild violence, Mild intense/frightening scenes

**...**

**CHAPTER 19**

"Up an at 'em Finnick, this is your last day in the Capitol!"

Elesah. I'm trying not to hate her as much anymore, but that's difficult when she wakes me up squealing every morning.

"I'm up, let me take a shower," I mumble, but with my teeth wired shut it's probably indistinguishable.

"No shower, you'll take one with Jayde."

D*mmit. I don't _ever_ leave my room without showering. Ever. Running water was the one thing we always had; Mom would make sure of it, because with both of us on the water and in the Training Center so much it was kind of necessary that we showered every day, sometimes multiple times. But I always showered at least once in the morning. I sweat when I sleep…

"Let's go Finnick, at this rate you won't have time to eat before you go down to prep."

I grab a pair of athletic pants and a t-shirt out of my drawer, pull them on, and follow Elesah out the door.

"Grab something on the go. I heard you up screaming last night so I tried to let you sleep later, but I waited too long, and now you're running late. Sorry."

Oh, just lovely. Freaking' lovely. I grab a protein shake from the dining room before walking down to prep.

**...**

"Morning Finnick," Lallie says as I walk into the room.

"Mornin'" I reply back.

I walk deeper into the room where I find Aliss screwing with the shower.

"You're late," she snaps. "And your skin's oily." She messes with the shower some more and then tells me to get in. I do, and realize that at some point last night I managed to cut myself across the forehead. Must've been some God-awful nightmares, although I don't remember a thing. Which probably means my subconscious is blocking it. Terrific. I step out of the shower, where Aliss is waiting.

"What the h*ll happened to your forehead? That's going to be a b*tch to cover up!"

"Whatever Lallie and Jayde can't get with makeup Ira can get with hair. Get out of my way."

I find my clothes and put them back on, ignoring whatever Aliss is saying, and go to find Lallie.

"Hey Finnick. Take a seat 'cause I need to figure out what I'm going to do with that gash on your forehead."

As Lallie gets started Jayde walks in spinning my phone between her fingers.

"You left this in your room. They got you some app, Mavis Beacon something or other, so that you can practice typing on this thing in hopes that you'll be able to get a bit faster. Don't practice during makeup though."

She tosses the phone to me and I catch it as she turns and walks out.

Lallie pulls out a container of clear petroleum jelly, and rubs a thin layer of it over the cut. Didn't know they used that in the Capitol.

"Vaseline, I know, but if I put concealer straight on that it's gonna hurt. The concealer is a thick enough cream that you shouldn't be able to see the shine under it."

I nod and she gets to work, layering creams and liquids until the angry red mark disappears.

"Done. Go see Ira."

"Where—"

"Go through the door Jayde came from, first room on the…left, I think. If not try right."

"Thanks," I say and head over there to find Jayde and Ira in what looks like some kind of fashion design studio.

"Oh, hey Finnick. Give us a second," Ira calls over his shoulder, and promptly returns to his conversation with Jayde.

I lean against the wall and pull my phone out of my pocket, deciding to check out the typing thing Jayde as talking about.

"Welcome to Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing for iPhone!**[1]** Click NEXT to set up your new account!"

I follow the instructions to setup and it leads me through a series of drills to learn how to properly type on the thing.

"Finnick. Let's go, you're gonna be late."

I look up. "What time is it?"

"Eight fifty."

Crap, it's been almost forty-five minutes.

I follow Ira to a sink in the main room, and he starts rapidly washing my hair.

O sh*t, the makeup. "Hey be—"

"Crap, I didn't realize Lallie had done concealer. I guess I should really be doing this before she does…I'll just have Jayde redo it although she's gonna be p*ssed."

Ah, whatever. I completely zone out as his fingers work through my hair.

Going home today. Well, not home, but back to District Four. Back to Victor's Village. Lifestyles of the rich and famous. Where money grows on trees and hunger is a word in the dictionary, not a lifestyle.**[2]** We have five living victors in Four; Mags, Odalys, Branson, the sixty year old womanizer who runs the District/Capitol black market that Irlissa used to get my bangle, Lorelei, an emaciated wreck of a woman who won ten years ago and hasn't been seen since, and Vanessa, who is more or less addicted to drugs. Fun group. _My new neighbors_.

"Finnick, studio, now."

I look up to see Jayde standing above me and follow her back to the same studio. She opens a door in the corner, which I assumed was a closet, to another small studio focusing specifically on makeup. On the back wall is a vanity with a mirror, the side walls are covered in shelves of makeup supplies, and on either side of the door are plastic containers of fashion magazines and catalogues.

I sit down and Jayde hands me another sketch.

"Concealer over that cut, a bit of gray eyeshadow, don't freak out it's not that bad, black jacket over a red long sleeve, dark wash slim fit jeans, Nike skate shoes. Any questions?"

I consider _Why the h*ll am I wearing eyeshadow?_, but decide against it, simply shaking my head.

"Good, let me go get you clothes."

She returns and I change quickly, taking a look in the full length mirror. It's…fine, but I'm really getting tired of wearing this much black. It's not…me.

"Perfect, makeup." She turns my head and starts applying concealer over the cut on my forehead. "I talked to Mags about your interview personality. Comfortable, but not triumphant. Generally subdued. Keep your answers as short as possible without seeming curt and look sexy."

I nod slightly and she continues on, eventually moving to said gray eyeshadow. Ugh.

"And…finished!" she declares, stepping aside so I can see in the mirror.

Eyeshadow. It's…not too horrible. It actually doesn't really look like makeup, but just shadows depending on the angle.

"So…?" she asks.

"Good, although I'm tired of black," I type out. That Mavis whatever-whatever thing really did help.

"Cool, and you'll never have to wear it again 'till your Victory Tour after this."

Victory Tour. I haven't even thought about that yet. Just another reminder that this isn't over.

"Sh*t it's 9:55, you need to go!"

She leads me to the sitting room where Caesar Flickerman and a team of cameramen are waiting.

"Good luck Finnick!"

And she's gone.

"Ah, Finnick. How have you been doing?" Caesar asks.

I reach back into my pocket for my phone.

"Pretty good, although I wish I could actually talk."

Before he can respond someone begins to count down from five and the Capitol seal appears on the broadcast screen in the corner. I barely have time to readjust my position on the chair before I'm on screen.

"Welcome to the 65th Post-Games Interview with your victor Finnick Odair of District Four! So, Finnick, would you like to tell the audience what you've got there?"

I explain the ordeal with my mouth being wired shut; relieved when he doesn't use that to segue into Korey, but instead starts with Pre-Games and moves right into Day 1. I eventually find the perfect balance between sexy apathy and career elation, and it works quite well until he gets to Day 7. Korey's death.

"I remember one of the Primetime commentators, Niobe Scheffler, I think, said she'd pay to know what you were thinking when you finally realized that the knife was poisoned. I remember agreeing with her, what _were_ you thinking in that moment?"

D*mmit. I remember what I was thinking. _Oh f—_. Am I even allowed to curse? It's live national television, but it's not like that stopped me in the arena…

"I really wasn't thinking at all. I was so shocked…I kind of just froze."

He nods and clears his throat. "I know the recaps were yesterday and I'm probably not supposed to do this, but can we get those thirty seconds on screen real fast?"

Someone at a computer starts clicking furiously, and Korey and I appear on the broadcast screen. Dear God no, I can't watch this again right now.

"Blood…and bitter almonds."

I watch the scene again, noticing some things I tuned out the first time like my body language. Right after the cannon goes off I turn toward the camera, and Caesar yells out, "Freeze! If we can keep that on the screen, Finnick, the look on your face is…a bit disconcerting, can you tell me what you were thinking?"

That one I can actually answer easily. My phone has auto-locked and I take a second to get back to the text-to-speech software.

"Up until that point I was kind of doing this reserved, play nice, not looking to kill people thing, but once Korey died I was kind of like 'F— that.' Because she was from home, she was the link keeping me sane, once I lost her I lost all restraint…and that's when I started doing anything and everything to get home."

I finally look up from my phone to see that he's gotten a bit choked up, and after dramatically clearing his throat he says, "Gregory. Although quite exciting, I don't think anyone in the Capitol knew what to think after that. Explain?"

"I was p*ssed about Korey. That's how it came out. I hadn't planned on that, but once I saw him, and he was so injured anyway, it just…I don't know, hit a nerve, whatever, and I ended up doing that."

Fine line between being a complete psycho and too apologetic. Hopefully I'm on it.

He nods. "You two weren't romantically involved, correct?"

"No, we weren't. I have a girlfriend. Irlissa." I make a finger heart at the nearest camera.

"Right. But you were friends, yes?"

"Yes. I had known her since I was twelve. We trained together for two and a half years. Love-hate relationship. We were kind of on the hate side right before the Games, but we got really close during Pre-Games ceremonies and all that."

"Of course you would." He continues on with the last day and random questions that the commentators asked before signing off.

"And…we're clear!"

Done.

Until the Victory Tour that is.

I head back to my room and grab Irlissa's bangle before Elesah leads me outside to a car, which takes me to the train station where Jayde is waiting.

"Bye Finnick, I'll see you in a couple months. And talent, modeling, you'll have email and all that crap now that you're in Victor's Village so get in touch with me, okay?"

I nod and she gives me a brief hug before Elesah drags me onto the train talking about how I'll be late.

To District Four.

Home.

**...**

**FOOTNOTES**

**1. **Did I already mention that Finnick's phone is an iPhone? If not, than it is. Firstly because iPhones are going to rule the world some day, and secondly because I have one so I can use real features/features likely to come soon instead of making up random crap

**2. **Sounds familiar…how about Chapter 1 of this story?

**...**

**A/N: How do you feel about me putting songs in the story like I did with "The Ghost of You" and "Let's Kill Tonight" in the last chapter? I love doing it and probably will quite a bit in Part 2, but if you don't like it for some reason let me know.**

**Also, NEW RULE for the review contest. To win you must have reviewed at least one chapter between 17 and 20. I don't want people who had reviewed every chapter in the beginning but haven't in several chapters winning.**

**Please review, I really appreciate the feedback!**

**-cindella204**


	21. Part I Chapter 20

**SHOUT OUTS:**

**Special shout out for The Ice Within!**

**Special thanks also to God1801, Floracat, shieldmaiden19, and rainbowfreak37 for reviewing the previous chapter!**

**...**

**DISCLAIMER:**

**There are several concepts, characters, and real life things that I use and/or mention in this chapter that I don't own. These include but are not limited to the Hunger Games, Finnick Odair, Mags, District Four, Victor's Village, and JetSki (which is apparently a registered trademark in the US).**

**...**

**A/N: Happy New Years guys! Part 1 is a thing of 2011, I finished writing it in 2011 although it won't get posted until 2012. 20 chapters (and a prologue) for 20 days (again not including the prologue).**

**...**

**IN THIS CHAPTER: **Moderate adult language

**...**

**CHAPTER 20**

Dinner that night is near painful without Korey there. I eat quickly and leave, hearing Elesah loudly whisper something to Mags on my way out. I disappear into my room and don't come out until the next day's breakfast.

"Ah, Finnick. I tried to call you when we stopped last night but I think you were asleep."

No I wasn't, but she doesn't need to know that.

"Sorry."

"No, it's fine, I just thought that you might've liked to get some fresh air. Anyway, we'll be back in Four in about an hour, I'm going to take you straight to Victor's Village and at least show you your house first and then you and your mom can move all your stuff over whenever you want. And I need to get you your jet ski too. Every victor gets one."

Jet ski? I vaguely remember us having one when I was really little, but it was one of the first things to go when dad died. It was about the same time we moved into a smaller house. Victor's Village is on an island about a kilometer from the mainland shore in District Four. The only other public island is Orsinia where the Training Center is located. The Training Center runs boats to and from the island based on class times, but kids have been known to swim it since it's actually closer then Victor's Village, about 800 meters**[1]** . I could easily swim to Victor's Village too, but it would take somewhere around ten minutes hence the jet skis I suppose.

"Did Jayde leave stuff for me to wear?"

She shakes her head. "No, just choose something from the wardrobe in your room. And make sure you don't leave anything on the train."

Leave anything? All I have is my token. And Korey's necklace. God, what am I going to do with that? Definitely not give it to her parents, but I don't know what else I'm supposed to do with a girl's necklace. Giving it to Irlissa just seems wrong.

"I'm going to go pack." I don't actually have anything to pack, but I need to plan what I'm going to say to people. So far this has been easy; random Capitol audiences. But now I need to take what I've done in there and apply it to people who knew me before, and therein lies the problem. Mom shouldn't be too hard. Unconditional love of a parent and all that junk. And I'll be living with her so I have plenty of time to fix that mess. Irlissa. I really have no clue what she's feeling or thinking about me right now. I'm sure she was watching it, but I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I managed to flirt with Capitol women, have a heated make out session with another girl, act like a psychopath, and then flirt with more women. This doesn't look too good for me. I guess I can tell her it was all for the Capitol, but that's not totally true, and she's pretty much the one person I can't lie to. Not because I haven't tried but because she can read me too well. I can't really do anything about her until I know where she is. Lance. I don't even want to think about that right now. Korey's parents…she made them seem like total b*tches, but at the same time they just lost their daughter…I guess I have to see how they're acting. If they feel any regret or loss at all.

Well this has been totally ineffective hasn't it?

Whatever. I can't be bothered to change so I busy myself by straightening up my room until Mags calls me saying we arrived in the station.

Here. Goes. Nothing.

The doors of the train open and I'm momentarily blinded by hundreds of flashes. Once the burst of light fades I can start searching for the people I care about.

Mom.

I can barely step off the train before she comes and sweeps me into a hug, which I eagerly accept.

Home. For real.

She finally lets go of me saying, "Go find Irlissa and Lance. I saw Lance earlier, not sure about Irlissa but I'm sure she's here somewhere. It was hard to even get into here honestly."

I eventually find Lance on the edge of the crowd looking generally p*ssed off at the world, although his expression neutralizes once he sees me.

"Congratulations man," he says with an awkward side hug. I nod, but I really want to know where Irlissa is, and apparently he can tell because he says, "Go ahead and ask."

I sigh. "Where's Irlissa?"

"No clue. I haven't seen her since you won actually, she even skipped training over the last couple days."

What?

"I know man, it's weird, even for her. But you have Capitol people to talk to and crap, so I'll talk to you at training tomor—I mean, some other time."

Dear God, this is weird. I nod and go to find Korey's parents.

They find me first, looking like they want to kill me. Her mom speaks first. "I don't know what my idiot daughter's problem was. You're just some petty whore making District 4 look bad."

Petty whore? Really? There's a difference between adapting to an audience and…being a whore, to put it simply.

Next her dad. "I can't believe you could actually guilt her into that."

"I didn't guilt her into anything! She insisted on doing it because she thought there was no point in coming back to _you_, so stop being a b*tch because you don't get the house in Victor's Village and get f—ing over yourselves!" I spit before storming away. Where's Mags, I want to get my stupid jet ski and go home.

"Finnick," I spin to find Mags behind me looking concerned. "You ready to go?"

"Yes. Where's my mom?"

"Right here," she says, coming up behind Mags.

Mags turns to see her and nods. "Let's go."

We all climb into a car taking us to the PWC**[2]** docks, where a shiny blue jet ski that seats three is waiting.

"At some point I"ll have Odalys teach you how to drive this thing, but in the mean time just hop on."

I do, and she speeds off toward the island. It's kind of funny seeing an almost seventy year old woman driving a jet ski.

We arrive at the island in about a minute and a half, and Mags leads us off the beach, which is beautiful, to the actual village part of the island. Twelve houses sit in a semi-circle with the backyards leading straight to the beach.

"You're in House 107," she says, leading me to the right side of the circle.

As I walk up to the house I'm amazed by the size. It's _huge_. Four floors, and the size of about three houses if not more in my old neighborhood.

We walk up onto the porch and I look to Mags for a key.

She shakes her head and says, "Put your finger on the pad by the door knob."

I do.

"State your name," the pad says.

"Finnick Odair."

"Finnick Odair, would you like to be the primary administrator of this security system?"

I look to Mags, and she nods.

"Yes?"

The door knob momentarily flashes green, and I turn the doorknob, stepping inside.

It's humongous, overly luxurious, and utterly Capitol.

It's home.

**...**

**FOOTNOTES**

**1. **Just under half a mile

**2. **Personal Watercraft

**...**

**A/N: I'm going to stop the review count for the contest at 7:30AM on Wednesday in US Eastern (GMT -5) time. Part 2 will not be the victory tour, you'll see once I upload what it is :) Except a long-ish break because I want to edit Part 1 and I have to plan, especially since Part 2 is basically just building background for me to refer to in the sequel to this story.**

**Thanks for the support throughout this story, I couldn't have done it without you all!**

**Please review, I really appreciate the feedback!**

**-cindella204**


	22. Part II :The Capitol: Chapter 1

**SHOUT OUTS:**

**SUPER-DUPER SHOUT OUT to "QueenCobraWing" and "The Ice Within" who reviewed every chapter in Part 1! You have no idea how much that means!**

**Special thanks also to "Floracat", "shieldmaiden19", "God1810", and "rainbowfreak37" for reviewing the previous chapter!**

**The winners of the review contest were "QueenCobraWing", "The Ice Within", "Floracat", and "shieldmaiden19". Your oneshots are up, thanks for all your support!**

**...**

**DISCLAIMER:**

**There are several concepts, characters, and real life things that I use and/or mention in this chapter that I don't own. These include but are not limited to the Hunger Games, Finnick Odair, Nike, Dead Pegasus, Famous Last Words, iPod Touch, Apple TV, Diazepam, Alprazolam, HEAT magazine, iChat, and iChat Theatre.**

**Lyrics from the song "Famous Last Words" are featured in this chapter. The song was written by lyricists Gerard Way, Frank Iero, Ray Toro, Mikey Way, and Bob Bryar, performed by My Chemical Romance, and produced by their record company, in using them in this chapter I am in no way claiming ownership or involvement in the writing, producing, and selling of this song. The lyrics will be bolded and italicized with a footnote citing them.**

**...**

**A/N: It's been forever! Here's what I've been doing in 2012:**

**First, CGS, my school program. I haven't had much time to write lately, in fact I'm getting this up because we have a four day weekend.**

**Second, I wrote four oneshots. Check them out?**

**Third, I edited every chapter for grammar and content (but the plot isn't changed) and put them in the new format I started somewhere in the teens.**

**I include lyrics for an entire song in this chapter :P I don't like doing that, but the song tells a story and I wasn't sure how to convey that without including the whole song, sorry. You can listen to it here: : / / . b e / **

**I'd actually listen to it since it's a whole song and not just a line or two.**

**...**

**IN THIS CHAPTER: **Mild adult language, mentions of SI (Self injury), mentions of semi-recreational prescription drug abuse, mentions of alcohol abuse, moderate sexual references

**...**

**CHAPTER 1**

**December 1**

"Happy Birthday Finnick, now get your butt down here because you have an appointment to get your teeth done at nine tomorrow morning and I want you to be able to get some sleep before that!"

"Coming!" I call downstairs and slip on my Nike's. Victor does get to keep theirs, and you get another special pair too. I did end up getting in touch with Jayde, and now I'm going to the Capitol for just over a month to do a bunch of modeling, my talent. Or at least that's what I think I'm doing; she said she was going to do something a little different with that idea but refuses to tell me what.

I grab my computer bag off my bed and sprint down the two flights of stairs to the main floor where Jayde and Lallie are in the kitchen with my mom.

She points at the bag.

"Computer. I know I can cloud all my documents and software settings, but I don't want to set up a trackpad and all that crap."**[1]**

"You can cloud that too," she says.

"Oh, well, I'm bringing mine anyway. I want mine, not one that functions just like mine."

She shakes her head. "Fine. Let's go."

I turn to my mom.

"Bye. Have a happy holiday."

Christmas is a weird thing in District Four. In the Capitol it's a huge commercial event, especially around Black Friday, and is ultimate chaos. In the outer districts they don't celebrate it at all, and in the career districts it's something in between. It's a holiday for most workers and we do minor presents and such, but we don't get a whole week of festivities for it like they do.

"You too. I see what happens for New Years' in the Capitol, be responsible. And don't forget I love you."

I pull her into a hug. "Love you too. Bye."

Jayde stands a couple feet away, staring at the ground awkwardly.

"Alright, let's go," I say and walk past Jayde to the door, looking behind me to see if she followed.

They take me to a car, which takes me to some kind of hangar on the outskirts of the district.

"Hovercraft pad outside," Jayde says. "Only the first four districts have them, which is why they have to use the train for the Games and VT. Any other time you'll be in a hovercraft."

They lead me to a large hovercraft waiting on the first pad.

"I need you for prep," Lallie calls over her shoulder as she boards.

"Prep for _what_? Prep for my dentist appointment?"

"Prep for your first time in the Capitol since your Games when you've been in the primetime news every day last week."

Oh.

She leads me to a mini studio with a standing sink in the corner and a large mirror.

"You're stuck with me because I need hours for my Hairstyling and Cosmetology course and Jayde needs to make some phone calls to get you set up for this week."

I nod and take a seat at the sink where Lallie is mixing hair dye.

"Dyeing it back to the natural bronze, and then putting slight highlights in the bangs. Not blonde, just a lighter version of the brown."

I groan. Breaking the fishtanks, although it'll be on top of the already dyed hair so maybe it won't be as bad.

Lallie begins to start with the hair dye, and I notice a tattoo on the inside of her forearm, a red-haired guy wearing a jacket that says "Dead Pegasus" on it.

"Who's the tattoo of?" I ask and then immediately regret it seeing as this is the freakin' Capitol and it's probably not more than a bad reminder of a wild one night stand.

She drops the brush in her hand on the counter and holds her wrist out so I can actually see it. "The guy who said that," she responds, pointing at a block of script on her wrist.

**There is nothing worth taking your life over—nothing at all.**

When I squint I realize that the text is wavering not for artistic value but to avoid a patchwork of faded scars.

I know what it looks like, and I give Lallie a questioning look for confirmation, but she just says, "Also lead singer of the band who's song combined with Jayde saved my life." She pushes up her shirt sleeve and I see more text starting just below the shoulder and wrapping around her arm until it stops right before the picture. Now I can tell that they're actually song lyrics, but I can't really read them because of the circular surface of her arm.

"I can play it…if you want."

I nod, and she says, "Play Famous Last Words from Lallie's iPod Touch through Apple TV." The Apple TV takes a minute to start up, and she goes back to my hair as the song starts.

_**Now I know that I can't make you stay**_

_**But where's your heart?**_

_**But where's your heart?**_

_**But where's your—?**_

_**And I know**_

_**There's nothing I can say**_

_**To change that part**_

_**To change that part**_

_**To change**_

_**So many bright lights to cast a shadow**_

_**But can I speak?**_

_**Well, is it hard understanding**_

_**Why I'm incomplete?**_

_**A life that's so demanding**_

_**I get so weak**_

_**A love that's so demanding**_

_**I can't speak**_

_**I am not afraid to keep on living**_

_**I am not afraid to walk this world alone**_

_**Honey, if you stay I'll be forgiven**_

_**Nothing you can say can stop me going home**_

_**Can you see—my eyes are shining bright**_

'_**Cause I'm out here, on the other side**_

_**Of a jet black hotel mirror**_

_**And I'm so weak**_

_**Is it hard understanding**_

_**Why I'm incomplete**_

_**A love that's so demanding**_

_**I get weak**_

_**I am not afraid to keep on living**_

_**I am not afraid to walk this world alone**_

_**Honey, if you stay I'll be forgiven**_

_**Nothing you can stay can stop me going home**_

_**I am not afraid to keep on living**_

_**I am not afraid to walk this world alone**_

_**Honey, if you stay I'll be forgiven**_

_**Nothing you can stay can stop me going home**_

_**These bright lights have always blinded me**_

_**These bright lights have always blinded me**_

_**And I say…**_

_**I see you lying next to me**_

_**With words I thought I'd never speak**_

_**Awake and unafraid**_

_**Asleep or dead**_

'_**Cause I see you lying next to me**_

_**With words I thought I'd never speak**_

_**Awake and unafraid**_

_**Asleep. Or. Dead!**_

'_**Cause I see you lying next to me**_

_**With words I thought I'd never speak**_

_**Awake and unafraid**_

_**Asleep or dead!**_

'_**Cause I see you lying next to me**_

_**With words I thought I'd never speak**_

_**Awake and unafraid**_

_**Asleep. Or. Dead!**_

_**I am not afraid to keep on living**_

_**I am not afraid to walk this world alone**_

_**(Or dead!)**_

_**Honey, if you stay I'll be forgiven**_

_**Nothing you can say can stop me going home**_

_**(Or dead!)**_

_**I am not afraid to keep on living**_

_**I am not afraid to walk this world alone**_

_**(Or dead!)**_

_**Honey, if you stay I'll be forgiven**_

_**Nothing you can say can stop me going home**_

_**(Or dead!)**_

_**I am not afraid to keep on living**_

_**I am not afraid to walk this world alone**_

_**(Or dead!)**_

_**Honey, if you stay I'll be forgiven**_

**_Nothing you can say can stop me going home_[2]**

"Pretty much ever line in that song applied to me, some of the stuff Jayde didn't even know about, and so when I first heard it I was just so struck by it…has Jayde told you her story?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, so Jayde's been doing Hunger Games cosmetology since sixteen, but she does various jobs outside of the Games season. Last semester she taught a course on using makeup to accentuate natural features instead of covering up, and I was astonished by how good she was because she's actually three years younger than me, I'm twenty-one. It was more of a seminar than a course because she's obviously not a doctor with a Ph.D, but it was all semester. Anyway, it was at FCH, The Panem School of Fashion, Cosmetology, and Hairstyling, and I'm going for a Bachelor's in General Cosmetology, so I decided to check it out. I stayed after for a couple classes just to ask some questions, and she was really nice, and sincere, even though it couldn't have hurt her ego that she was teaching a college level class when she was only college aged herself. Anyway, we became pretty good friends, going to Starbucks after class and such. On the other side of things, I was completely broke at the time; more than half of my paycheck doing basic prep makeup for a small morning news show was going to my previous year's student loan. At the time Jayde wasn't doing any better, borrowing from Cayne, so I couldn't ask her for any help, and I ended up getting a job at this sleazy bar in the red light district**[3]**"

Unfortunately the red light district is one of the few things I won't have to ask about during this story. Four has one, although it is really small, generally shunned, and probably not as jacked up as the Capitol's.

"I met a guy, he was drunk, I was beyond wasted, some stuff went down, fast-forward and we were in a relationship, and I moved into his house."

"After how long?" I ask. We're not a super conservative district, but shacking up is one thing that that really doesn't go over well. I don't know why, but that's a great way to get a whole bunch of scandalous rumors started about you.

"The relationship started like, immediately, I started living with him after two weeks."

My eyes widen. "Holy sh*t Lallie."

"Desperate, Finnick. Desperate. Anyway, my job doing television makeup just wasn't working, and my boyfriend was able to get me a job doing a video podcast on makeup tips so I quit the television job, and started doing this vlog instead. It was cool at first, shooting in this really fancy green screen studio with people to do my wardrobe, hair, and makeup, but it got really old. The show got really popular. I'm not the type that does well with fame. I hate the press, and I don't like having fans. And about two months after I got this job, PanemHEAT, this huge tabloid here, wrote this _nasty_ article about me; at the end of the day they basically said I was a whore, and the fact that I was still working a job in the red-light basically proved their point, even though I hated red-light. Hated it. That's why I was so drunk off my *ss when I met my boyfriend. I hardly ever worked sober and clean, just because I couldn't deal with it when I was in my right mind. The sordid men, and the sluts I worked with…if I wasn't totally blitzed, it was pills, nothing hardcore, just Diazepam, and Alprazolam if I could get my hands on it."

I give her a blank look.

"Tranquilizers."

"Wouldn't those knock you out?" Peacekeepers in Four carry what we like to call "tranq guns". Not a fun experience.

"Not tranquilizers like that. Like in the medical sense, they're mainly prescribed to reduce anxiety in people who have legitimate anxiety disorders."

"You had an anxiety disorder?"

"No. They're _prescribed_ for anxiety disorders. Who said I had a prescription? Recreationally, they reduce your physical and psychological activity, making you a lot less aware of…everything. Honestly Diazepam's pretty popular, technically you're supposed to have a prescription, but people sell it out in the open over the counter and no one really cares. Alprazolam's a little more difficult though because it's much stronger and more addictive. Moving on, PanemHEAT wrote this BS article and my target audience basically didn't want to watch some whore. It did attract new people though, a whole bunch of harlots who wanted that kind of thing. I continued with the show, but at that point it was _really_ making me miserable. That's when this started," she says gesturing toward her scarred wrist. By the way, Jayde didn't know about any of were really close friends, but this was one thing we just didn't talk about, I don't know, anyway at home things were starting to slide downhill too. With my boyfriend—I don't even know, it's just what was once a close intimate relationship had turned to a quantitative exchange of sex for room and board. Not that that was ever vocalized or anything, it just kind of happened. I wanted to get out but I didn't have the money, so I stayed, and dealt with it, but it was really getting me down, and I was having more and more problems with SI; self injury," she supplies before I can ask. "At some point Jayde finds out. She doesn't confront me, but I knew she knew, and she knew I knew she knew, which is probably why she didn't confront me. Meanwhile things with my boyfriend were getting worse and worse, there was about a week of constant fighting before he kicked me out. Told me we were over so to take my stuff and get out while I could. I took that as a threat and did get out, and rented a hotel room with my credit card for the night since I didn't really have anywhere else to go. I sat in that stupid room bawling my eyes out for a good hour, I felt so useless and so hopeless, the hotel room alone would max out my credit card after the week, and any of the money on my debit would be going to food and hygiene products. I was royally screwed, and that's when I asked myself 'Why should I suffer through the next week until I'm on the streets at all?'" And that's when I decided. I wouldn't. My life was over. I skipped everything the next day, both jobs and Jayde's class, and spent the day writing suicide notes and getting the means to do it. That night at about six o'clock I ate what would have been my last meal and start to set up for…_it_. It was almost serene in a really scary way. I'm literally about to go do it when my computer's iChat ring goes off saying that Jayde wants to use iChat Theatre. I ignore it and it goes to voicemail, but Jayde calls again and again, and eventually I just answer the stupid thing. She forces me to watch this video, and it's this song, but live at some festival. As soon as I see it I lose it. Completely and totally lose it. Jayde switches the iChat to her phone and drives over to the hotel, picks me up, and takes me back to her apartment where apparently she has a couch bed where I can stay. And I do stay for about two months until I could get my life together. I got the tattoos just as a reminder, although it took about five trips to do this entire arm, one for the quote, one for the portrait, and three for the song. It was worth it though, because even times when I've briefly considered SI'ing again I could never do it with that quote there. After Jayde got promoted she told me about this spot, said she wanted me to do it, and I did. So that's how I'm here, and that's what the tattoo means. Oh, and you're hair is done, lean back into the sink so I can rinse."

I do, and she gets to work, humming Famous Last Words while she's at it.

Everything is not as it seems?

**...**

**FOOTNOTES**

**1. **Mac OS X Lion users: A more advanced version of multi-touch trackpad and iCloud

Everyone else: On a Mac laptop or desktop with a wireless trackpad instead of a mouse there's all these gestures you can do with multiple fingers in multiple directions to do various things. This is a more advanced version of that

**2. **Famous Last Words by My Chemical Romance from the album The Black Parade. No copyright infringement intended.

**3. **Definiton: an area of a town or city containing many brothels (house with many rooms where men can visit prostitutes that work and live there), strip clubs, and other sex businesses**.**

Def from New Oxford American Dictionary, text in parentheses added by me

**...**

**A/N: Well, that's the first chapter of Part 2: THE CAPITOL. It probably seems kind of random now, but there _is_ a point to this, I promise.**

**Please let me know what you think!**

**-cindella204**


	23. Part II Chapter 2

**SHOUT OUTS:**

**Review count starts over for the new part! Thanks to "QueenCobraWing", "Floracat", 2dEVIL iN dISGUISE2", "shieldmaiden19", "Gimjamjelly", "Fae", "The Ice Within", and "WerewolvesAndCo" for the reviews! Eight reviews! That's fantastic guys! Thanks so much.**

**...**

**DISCLAIMER:**

**There are several concepts, characters, and real life things that I use and/or mention in this chapter that I don't own. These include but are not limited to the Hunger Games, Finnick Odair, X-ACTO knives, iPad, iOS, and Panem.**

**...**

**A/N: I've changed the titles of every chapter due to extreme limitations by FFN...Psyched about the reviews on the last one. This one is short and boring, but will become necessary later. Sorry. I'd love the reviews anyway ^^;**

**...**

**IN THIS CHAPTER: **Mild adult language

**...**

**CHAPTER 2**

**December 1, Later**

"So here's the plan. Right now we're headed to the building in Fashion District where you'll be living and spend a decent amount of time working as well. Tomorrow morning you have that appointment, after that we start setting up for your main project this month. Any questions?" Jayde asks.

We're in a ridiculously long black stretch-limo with over-tinted windows on the way to the studio/apartment.

"What time do I need to be ready by tomorrow?"

"Umm…is eight-thirty too early?

"_Eight_-thirty? That's super late for me. Please, I feel like I'm sleeping in if I'm not ready by seven."

Lallie looks mildly shocked.

"Pre-Games fishing job. Everyone's on the water by seven-thirty at the latest, usually more like six-thirty or seven."

Lallie nods as we pull to a stop and exit.

This is the part of the Capitol where the streets are hot pink. The sky high buildings framing them are splashed in colors of every type with the exception of the one building we're standing in front of, which is all glass.

"Welcome to the Fashion District," Jayde says behind me. I nod and follow Lallie as she enters the building and walks to a desk where a guy in a full tux is sitting. He's wearing sunglasses. Inside.

"Welcome back Lallie and Jayde. And, Finnick, welcome to the Capitol!"

I nod and follow Lallie into a crystal elevator.

"Each corner of the elevator has a different style of music, by the way. The center's silence 1," Jayde says.**[1]**

I end up in the back right corner with Lallie. "Alternative rock," she says, although I never asked.

"Studio's on sixteen, and then you've got the penthouse suite on 20. Lallie and I are in the two sub-penthouses on nineteen. I'm going to briefly take you through the studio now, then your suite, and then you can unpack, get settled, whatever," Jayde explains as we rocket upward.

"Got it," I mutter through my teeth. Tomorrow can't come fast enough.

The elevator dings and we exit.

"This is just the foyer," Lallie states.

I'm already overwhelmed. The ceilings are more than twice my height, and the west wall is lined in four floor to ceiling windows. Spot lights hang over a sofa and loveseat on each side of the back wall, and a gap about five feet wide leads to the next room.

"The Drawing Room. It's not actually a legitimate drawing room, but we draw in here, so it stuck. This is where most of design process happens."

Lallie walks over to one of three plexiglass tables on the left wall, each accompanied by a high barstool.

"This is where we do most of the designing. If you open this and fold it back you get the art supplies."

She takes the top part of the table and folds it back underneath it. There most be some kind of hinge in the back or something. A thin strip of each side of the table is cut out and filled with pens and markers, while the middle remains a flat table surface.

"Pens, liners, markers, colored pencils, regular pencils, screen tones, etc. We'll show you what all these are for at some point, but for now just know that's all the traditional media. When you open this middle part, you get the sketchbooks, a X-ACTO knife for the screen tones, an iPad and iOS stylus for digital art, and a laptop and connection cord for more digital art. You can plug the iPad in and make it like a regular computer tablet."

I nod and pretend like I know what she's talking about, although I don't have the first clue.

Jayde waves me over to a long table on the back wall.

"Inspiration window. I'll explain later."

I nod again as she leads me to a back hallway. Lallie opens a door on the right and steps inside.

"And this is the photography studio. It's a small one, and doesn't have the necessary technology for a real photo shoot, but we use it for test shots."

I really don't know what anything in the room is, but it looks pretty technologically advanced to me. The same type of stuff they used back in our interviews before the Games. If that wasn't good enough, then what the h*ll is?

"To the next room," Lallie says, and I scoot out.

"Bathroom. It's not that interesting. Vanity, stand up shower, tub, toilet. The end."

It's probably a good ten by ten feet though. Bigger than the bedrooms of most of Panem. Bigger than entire houses in some of the lower districts.

As we exit through a different door then we came in, Jayde says, "Whenever someone enters, both doors auto-lock."

Ah. I was wondering how that would work.

"Cosmetology and nails studio. Nails really won't matter to you, but you might get makeup done here for little things, like magazine interviews. Anything involving television or major shoots will have you get your makeup done on site. Same with hair, which is the next room."

And we enter.

It's probably the smallest room in the studio, but it couldn't be less than fifty square feet. Maybe more.

Jayde doesn't bother to stop, and we end up in an open room with two machines sitting on a table against the wall. They look like they could be for sewing maybe?

"Sewing room. Sewing machines on the back wall, and then just supplies across."

So I guess I was right?

"And lastly, the supply/prep/whatever-else-we-want-it-to-be room," Jayde states.

"Also know as the multipurpose room," Lallie adds, earning a look from Jayde.

I don't bother to respond, it's been a d*mn long day and I'm ready to go to sleep.

Lallie must sense this, because she says, "Let's get you upstairs so you can unpack and go to sleep."

I follow them back into the elevator, and we take it up to the twentieth floor, which apparently is all mine.

"Sixteen hundred square feet, just for you," Jayde says, sounding a tiny bit jealous, and we enter my room, no floor.

I'm sure it's the absolute epitome of envy-inducing, but all I can think is _That's _great_, now where's the bedroom?_

I feign awe anyway for Jayde's sake. I must be a good actor because she believes it.

Lallie leads me to a door in the back, which she calls the master bedroom.

"Master? There's more than one?"

"Yeah. It's a penthouse suite. This isn't just a hotel room. There's people who live in these permanently."

I nod, and enter my bedroom. My minimal luggage is sitting next to the largest bed I've ever seen and across from both a desk with a both a computer and an iPad sitting on top.

Lovely.

I run my hand alongside the wall looking for a light switch, and turn to Lallie when I don't find one.

"Probably voice activated. Lights on seventy five percent!" she yells out, and the lights turn on. Except they don't just turn in. It's like a gradual fade in.

Figures. Like the stuff we had back at the training center.

"Alright Finnick. Go ahead and set your stuff up however you want, and get some sleep. Lallie and I are downstairs, I'm A, she's B, call if you need anything."

I nod and they both leave.

Forget setting up, I'm going to sleep. It won't kill me to live out of a suitcase for a day.

**...**

**FOOTNOTES**

**1. **Me and my techy friend were discussing this the other day, apparently they are working on technology that could make this possible now. And you _know_ that the Capitol would want that.

**...**

**A/N: Sorry about that. Working on Chapter 3. Hopefully it's up soon.**

**Please review, I really appreciate the feedback!**

**-cindella204**


	24. Part II Chapter 3

**SHOUT OUTS:**

**Special thanks to God1801, Floracat, Gimjamjelly, WerewolvesAndCo, QueenCobraWing, and shieldmaiden19 for reviewing the previous chapter!**

**...**

**DISCLAIMER:**

**There are several concepts, characters, and real life things that I use and/or mention in this chapter that I don't own. These include but are not limited to the Hunger Games, Finnick Odair, and the Capitol.**

**...**

**A/N: You _know_ the chapter's short when I don't use the f-word or the s-word the entire time. I meant for this to be just the first part of chapter three with the "…" thing and then a whole other part, but I have no time to write anymore and I wanted to get something up. You see, I have an AP test on Friday and they I go straight into SOLs and Culminating finals. No time. So I'm getting this up now, and most likely you won't see me again 'till June.**

**I know.**

**I'm sorry.**

**Enjoy this though?**

**...**

**IN THIS CHAPTER: **Mild adult language

**...**

**CHAPTER 3**

**December 2**

I'm in another limousine. Just Jayde and I; Lallie's getting something set up for later.

"You know you're going to have to deal with paparazzi this time, right?"

"Wha?"

"Paparazzi. You know, swarms of reporters and photographers stalking you and shoving microphones in your face?"

"Yeah, I know, but what about it again?"

"That you're about to get a whole bunch of it. The studio is in a no-press zone. People sneak in every once in awhile, but it's generally not an issue. This is just the general business district. And everyone knows you're going to be there today. So you're going to be getting fans and then press. Just smile and keep walking."

"Lovely," I drawl sarcastically, and she raises an eyebrow.

I have to deal with the press. I _don't_ have to be excited about it.

We come to a stop, and I feel like I'm about to get on a stage. Except I'm not. I don't have to talk, I don't have to perform. Smile and walk, smile and walk. The driver opens the door and I step out onto the sidewalk.

Microphones, cameras, reporters, screaming women; all at once.

Smile and walk, smile and walk.

After telling three women old enough to be my mother that I _won't_ have sex with them tonight, pose for a photographer who won't get out of my way until I take an exclusive photo for him, and answer as many questions from reporters as I can while avoiding anything having to do with Irlissa, I enter the building.

So I didn't smile and walk, but for some strange reason I feel a bit bad for the reporters. It must suck to have a job where you have to make people hate you to complete assignments.

I hear Jayde come in behind me, but I keep walking and hear her jogging to catch up in her itty bitty heels.

"Finnick! What happened to smile and walk?"

"They get paid by commission, don't they?"

"Finnick—"

"Don't they?"

"Yes. A majority of the press working on the field like that gets paid entirely in commissions."

"Exactly. So that guy I took an exclusive photo for? Big money. He can get a gift for a family member, do something nice for his girlfriend, I don't know. Point is, there's no point in me being an *ss when I could be helping someone out."

"Yeah, it's nice to be _nice_ and all, but what about the security risk? You aren't just a hot kid from District Four anymore. You're the Capitol's newest victor, and believe it or not, there _are_ people who don't like you, and they _will_ do anything they can to get to you."

"Let's remember why I'm in this situation in the first place. Victor. I'm pretty d*mn sure I can take care of myself. Have me carry a knife or whatever if it makes you happy. You're right, I'm not just a hot kid from District Four, so don't treat me like one."

I slide past her and keep walking, although I have no clue where I'm going. My mom always told me of these myths, from thousands and thousands of years ago, that all featured a hero. Each hero had a trait called a fatal flaw that unchecked would ultimately lead to their downfall. She's always told me that my need to do everything myself, my way was mine. Self-reliance taken to the extreme. The same thing that almost made me lose Korey. I get why Jayde's concerned or whatever, but I'm a _victor._ Not much can hurt me at this point.

Jayde calls from behind me that the next door is it, and I pull the door open. A little camera on the ceiling sweeps the room before announcing my name; calling an assistant in white lab gear who leads me to an operation room. They put me into a chair, and then someone puts a needle in my arm, causing everything to fade to black...

**...**

**A/N: So that's it. I told you it was short. And do you like defiant Finnick? There will definitely be more next chapter.**

**Please review, I really appreciate the feedback!**

**-cindella204**


	25. Part II Chapter 4

**SHOUT OUTS:**

**Special thanks also to _Floracat_, _shieldmaiden19_, _QueenCobraWing_, and _The Ice Within_ for reviewing the previous chapter!**

**...**

**DISCLAIMER:**

**There are several concepts, characters, and real life things that I use and/or mention in this chapter that I don't own. These include but are not limited to the Hunger Games, Finnick Odair, Keynote, Microsoft PowerPoint, Adobe Illustrator (Ai), and AXE.**

**...**

**A/N: I'm back! I know, I know, it's been too long. It's here though, and I will do my best to get Chapter 5 before I leave for South Africa on the third of July. They are saying we will have internet there, but people who have been on these types of trips before say don't count on it, so I'm not. In other news, I've reached fifty thousand words with just the story, no footnotes, shout outs, disclaimers, authors notes, chapter warnings, etc. are included in that, that's _just the story_. This is a pretty big milestone for me, and I'm excited!**

**...**

**IN THIS CHAPTER: **Moderate adult language

**...**

**CHAPTER 4**

******December 3, Later**

"I swear to f—ing God, if you don't get him responding Snow is going to _kill_ you, and then I'm going to bring you back to life so I can _kill you again_!"**[1]**

My_ head_. I don't know where I am, what I'm doing, or who's screaming, but it's giving me one h*ll of a headache.

Someone points a flashlight in my face and I squint.

"He's responding to the stimulus!" someone screams. A different someone than before.

"You better be effin' glad!" snaps the first someone.

I sit up, too quickly apparently, because an intense wave of nausea washes over me and I end up reaching for the trashcan next to…the thing I'm lying on. I puke up everything in my stomach and then try to figure out where I am.

"I thought you said you took care of that? That there wouldn't be any post-anesthesia effects? We don't have time for that!"

"Whoever's screaming can you please shut up?" I ask. My mouth feels a bit numb, slurring my words some, but it's still discernible. I think.

From the sea of lab techs surrounding me emerges a girl with pale skin, dark black hair that travels half way down her back, red—Jayde. A familiar face is good, but what the h*ll is going on?

"Jayde."

"Yeah. You need to chill. They put you under general anesthesia to remove the wiring on your teeth. You're gonna be super confused, super nauseous, and generally sluggish for probably a couple hours."

Teeth. Right. I run my tongue over them and find that indeed the wires are gone.

One of the lab techs steps a bit closer. "Even though we only used a topical anesthetic in your mouth because we had you completely sedated, you should still be careful, because you'll be a bit numb for an hour or two. Don't eat for the next…let's say two hours, or as long as you can wait, whichever comes first. You should also take it easy, because this is your first time under consumer grade anesthesia we don't really know what the long-term effects will be, but we can't really afford to keep you inpatient."

"Consumer grade?"

"After your Games they used something when they did your polish, but that was high-tech government stuff with a completely different effect on the brain, so we don't count that. Plus, they kept you sedated with tranquilizing drugs until long after your initial recovery time."

"Uh…okay."

"So try not to eat for two hours, take it easy, and call if you need anything."

"Got it," I reply, although I don't get it at all.

I follow Jayde as she checks me out and we end up in another limo.

**...**

I trail behind Jayde as we enter the studio. She heads into the drawing room and pulls out a laptop from one of the desks.

"Jayde, why the h*ll am I here?" I ask tiredly.

"I told you, modeling. You kind of have the body for it."

I ignore the "kind of". "'_Modeling, plus some other stuff, you'll see_.' I want to see. Now. What the fu—"

"Would you give me a second, Finnick? God."

I lean back against the wall as her computer finally starts up and she opens Keynote, choosing a file called "Finnick Modeling Project Proposal".

"You have a PowerPoint?"

"Keynote**[2]**. Better than PowerPoint. But yes, I have a _presentation_ for you."

I give her the look as she puts her Keynote into slideshow form.

_STORM_.

"So…it's called Storm. As far as your involvement, it will be a combination of modeling, fashion design, and marketing management."

What?

I am not a fashion designer by any means, and although I know that marketing deals with the promotion of products, the phrase "marketing management" admittedly doesn't mean much to me.

"Say something, Finnick."

"Uhh…okay?"

She sighs and advances to the next slide. "Objective. You're marketing your own cologne line. You'll choose the scent, and be in charge of most aspects of it's marketing, including designing what your two representative models are wearing. You will be one of those models, and the other will be a female you'll choose from our catalogue."

_What?_

"I know nothing about fashion design or marketing. Especially in the Capitol."

"That's what Lallie and I are for. I've been doing fashion design for awhile now, and Lallie actually has some background in advertising design."

"Okay?"

"Today you need to chose a scent, logo, and female model. We're scheduled to do a photo shoot in District 4 on the sixteenth and the seventeenth of this month. Product goes on sale a week later."

"Umm, okay."

I'm still stuck on the whole "you're going to be marketing your own product" part.

"Crap, the test bottles are up in my room. Just come up there with me because the logos and models are on the desktop in there. I could always cloud it over, but the modeling software would take awhile."

"Fine."

We take the elevator up to nineteen and Jayde leads me to an cluttered office. She goes to the desk, where a large computer screen is sitting, and taps on the trackpad a few times, causing the screen to come to life. She enters her password, which must be at least sixteen characters long, and clicks on a little orange icon labeled "Ai".

"While Illustrator's loading let me run and get those test bottles."

She returns with six identical cologne bottles and strips of card stock labeled "A", "B", and "C". I watch as she carefully sprays the first one and hands it to me.

I smell it and immediately start coughing. I don't even know what it smells like, but it's really strong and really gross.

"Next."

She moves to a different corner of the room so the scents don't mix and gives me B.

It smells like home. Salty waves, the hint of ozone that comes before lightning, pounding rain, a storm. Like it's named. It has a slight, slight, _slight_ undertone of leather that gives the otherwise neutral scent a masculine feeling.

"That's one's better. Smells like home. What's the third?"

She moves again and sprays the third. It smells good, but like the Capitol. A _very_ synthetic woodsy smell with undertones of fruity mixed drinks. I think it's supposed to be sexy, but all I can think of is that guy at any party who is trying _way_ too hard.

"It smells like that AXE stuff you made me wear to the Victor's Banquet. No."

"Yeah, it smells _good_."

"No, it smells like that guy who's going up to hot girls asking 'Want some sugar?' or something equally stupid."**[3]**

"Okay," she says, shaking her head. "The second one, B?"

"Yeah."

She picks up the other three. "This is the girls one. I'm running out of corners in this room." She walks out into the hall and gives me the first one.

It smells like flowers. It's nice and all, but has nothing to do with anything.

"It's too…pretty. You can't name something STORM and then have it smell like a beautiful spring day. That's gotta be false advertising or something."

She laughs. "What about this?"

It smells like freakin' nail polish remover. Or liquor. Or anything sharp and chemical. Disinfectants, rubbing alcohol…

"It smells like cleaning supplies. Why the h*ll would anyone _wear_ that? Or even create it with the idea that someone would wear it? I question the taste of your people, Jayde."

"My people? I didn't make it, and I never said I like it."

"Okay, you have a point. Just the Capitol in general."

She shakes her head and moves onto the next one.

"This one better be good."

And it is. The same storminess with floral undertones instead of the leather. The storm is still dominant though.

"Perfect," I tell Jayde.

"Cool, B and C. I'll send that out so they can start mass producing them." She sits back at the computer and starts a new email. "Actually, before I send that I should get a logo too. Illustrator should be done by now."

The logos are fairly straight forward and I quickly choose a set, a base image, and then one for "Him" and one for "Her".

Jayde clicks on an icon of a heavily made up girl on her dock, and a software called "ModelBrowse" opens. She clicks through a couple of pages until I am staring at nine little thumbnails of what I assume are Capitol models. She double clicks on the first and a full profile opens with full body shots, head shots, profiles, and a whole bunch of information.

"You can click the filter button if there are any things you are absolutely not willing to compromise on, but we can change pretty much anything but skin color, just because that's expensive and time consuming." She stands up and lets me take the computer chair.

I start by putting the filter on for a natural skin tone. I don't need any blue models, thanks. The first model has purple eyes and lips, with blue makeup, eyebrows, and hair. Her hair reaches her stomach on the right side, and then is virtually nonexistent on the left. A long red halter dress accentuates drastic curves and she is in black flat sandals.

"That hair would be a pain wouldn't it?"

Jayde shrugs. "If you want it to be 'normal', then yes. The other side won't be able to grow fast enough for what we need, even with those inch a day growth supplements, so your best bet would be to shave it all off and get a wig. The model probably wouldn't be too thrilled about that though, so if you don't like it I probably wouldn't pick her."

"'Kay, no then."

"Click the 'Remove' button at the bottom."

I do, and the next model pops up. She actually has a semi normal face; curly blond hair, blue eyes, red lips…and then I get to what she's actually wearing. A translucent white nightgown with absolutely nothing under it shows _everything_, and then—

"Does she have a _tail_?"

"Eugh, that trend is pretty old. Maybe six months ago that was all the rage."

"She has a tail?"

"Yes. Surgically attached and most likely permanent."

"What the f—, no."

_Remove_.

The next model has a green face.

"I said natural skin tone."

"That's not skin tone, Finnick. The rest of her _is _natural. It's demi-permanent makeup, can't you see how it looks airbrushed?" she asks me, sounding slightly exasperated. Probably because of my lack of appreciation for the idiocy that is Capitol fashion.

"Demi-permanent? So it's not coming off anytime soon. Yeah, no."

_Remove_.

The next model actually has semi-decent taste, black hair that fades to a dark blue, blue eyes, and a little black dress, but she's ridiculously tall.

_Height: 208 cm (6'10"), Natural 201 cm (6'7")_.

"Two hundred one centimeters is not natural. I know what they mean, she's 201 without the heels, but that's _not_ natural."

"Yeah, even I think that's little much. She'd be a good nine inches taller than you in flats. Next."

_Remove_.

The next model is…not even attractive. Pasty pale skin with curly white hair, black eyes (yes, they are literally black), and red lips. She's wearing a red dress that is the polar opposite of flattering, and her shape…eugh.

"What the h*ll is _she_ modeling for?"

"Uhh…I honestly don't know, I just put in specifications and used an internet search finder. Obviously that's a no."

_Remove_.

The computer now displays an error message about how there are no more profiles selected.

"I thought there were nine?"

"The filter knocked out four apparently. Well…umm…"

"Get me a model from Four."

Jayde spins to look at me. "_What_?"

"Get a model from Four. There are hundreds of pretty girls in District Four. Run some kind of contest through the Training Center and bring one out here. That way she's somewhat normal."

"Finnick, there's no way. First of all, there would be way too much red tape surrounding bringing a D4 kid into the Capitol. You're a victor, which is why you're here, but I can't just be pulling District Four people in here whenever I want. Secondly, running a contest like you're suggesting would be a logistics _nightmare_. You're the only one with any contacts with the Training Center or whatever, and you're a minor so you can't sign for anything. Basically it would be you playing middle man, which exponentially increases the risk for a communication error that could ruin this entire thing. And thirdly, we don't have time. This project has such a quick turnaround that we need someone in here ASAP, and having to run a contest and then ship them out here would take _at least_ a week, and we don't have time for that, so no. I can call a couple of contacts to get a premium catalogue and you can pick someone out of there, or you can reconsider what's in here, up to you."

"Up to me? Then bring a model from Four. Almost everyone has tan skin and eyes somewhere between blue and green, so we'll match, and also bringing someone in would create a lot of publicity. Publicity raises awareness of the product. Awareness means more people buying it. It would be a good thing, and worth the 'logistics nightmare', which really wouldn't be that much of a nightmare at all. You'd have to send someone there, but other than that it'd be fine."

"Oh, and who the heck am I going to send to District Four to oversee finding your precious model?"

"I don't know, you, Lallie, someone else who works with you. All I'm saying is maybe you should get over your fear of having contact with 'the outside' because it would be a lot better for this project."

She bristles. Looks like I hit a nerve. "You know what, fine. Have it your way. I'm not doing _sh*t_ though, so let me know when your model's here." She gets up and walks out the door

I roll my eyes and go next door to Lallie's apartment. I knock and she ushers me in. Her hair is down and she must use contacts instead of just dying her irises, because her eyes are a bright jade green.

"I was just getting ready, what's up, Finnick?"

I don't bother to ask why she's getting ready in the middle of the afternoon.

"I need help…"

**...**

**FOOTNOTES**

I more or less stole this from the fifth Maximum Ride book, MAX…it's not exactly like that, but close enough that I felt like I should cite.

**2. **Shameless Apple promotion. I'm a big Keynote fan, PowerPoint for Mac annoys me greatly.

**3. **Did the irony come and smack you in the face? Good.

**...**

**A/N: Well, now you know why Finnick's in the Capitol. I'm sure it seems utterly pointless, but I promise it's not! You'll see.**

**Please review, I really appreciate the feedback!**

**-cindella204**


	26. Part II Chapter 5

**SHOUT OUTS:**

**Special thanks to _The Ice Within_, _LikeACheshireCat_, _QueenCobraWing_, _shieldmaiden19_, and _Floracat_ for reviewing the previous chapter!**

**...**

**DISCLAIMER:**

**There are several concepts, characters, and real life things that I use and/or mention in this chapter that I don't own. These include but are not limited to the Hunger Games, Finnick Odair, Ray-Ban (and their signature styles Jackie-Ohh and Wayfarer), Apple, Thunderbolt, Oakley (and their signature style Fuel Cell), Gucci, My Chemical Romance (MCR), and the Danger Days spider logo.**

**...**

**A/N: Hey folks. As you can see from the disclaimer, there are _a lot_ of real life brands in this chapter. I'm not creative enough to think of all my own glasses brands -_- You all should check out my Polyvore account [ .com] because every outfit I mention in this chapter plus some bonus ones are on there. There's pictures that I did using TAAZ virtual makeover, too. Speaking of TAAZ virtual makeover, I uploaded a picture of Garrett Hedlund and gave him Finnick-colored hair and eyes...now I see why people want him for the movie. He looked JUST LIKE FINNICK.**

**...**

**IN THIS CHAPTER: **Moderate adult language

**...**

**CHAPTER 5**

**December 3**

"_I need help."_

_Lallie nods as she leads me through her apartment to the master bathroom where she motions for me to sit on a small bench before starting to flat iron her hair._

"_So what's going on?"_

_I sigh and give her the quick version of what happened with Jayde._

"_Got it. Don't worry about Jayde, she'll be fine. Honestly she's just anxious, she's never done anything quite like this before, and if this doesn't turn out right it could end quite badly for her. I think we forget, h*ll _she_ forgets that she's only been in the professional world for two years, and has been doing general fashion design for just over a year now. As for getting your model, let me finish this, and then I'll make some phone calls. What exactly are you planning to do though?"_

"_My original idea was to send someone, probably you now that Jayde is out of the picture, to Four just to be a representative. Depending on how fast we could get you there, you could pitch an assembly during A5 or B5, which is after lunch break from thirteen to fifteen o'clock, just explaining to all the eligible girls what is STORM and how they could be involved, and then on Saturday, which would mean you'd do the assembly on Friday I guess, we have all four classes, so people could go actually do their photos or whatever during their Gen. Phys. Ed. Class, Independent Study, or whatever. I have ideas, I just need to get them out on paper…"_

_Lallie nods. "Of course, that's fine. Let me finish this up and then we can really flesh it out."_

**...**

That was yesterday. Now I'm sitting downstairs in the little hairstyling studio with Lallie. She's as casual as I've ever seen her; her hair is wet and pulled into a ponytail, she has yet to put on any makeup including her contacts, and she's in a tank-top and running shorts.

"I want to do a full dye on your hair, so I'm going to get you started first, and then get myself ready."

"Why?"

"Because I need to run to the mall and pick up some stuff before I leave, and you're coming with me. In order for you to market toward the Capitol you need to understand the lifestyle, and there's no better way. In order to alleviate some of the celebrity factor though I'm going to put a demi-permanent dye in your hair, just for the next two weeks, and then give you a set of contact drops, probably dark blue, and a pair of sunglasses. Maybe my old Ray-Bans."

"Didn't you dye my hair back natural…two days ago?"

"Yeah, but I hadn't planned on…yeah. Sorry about that, I should of just touched up the darker shade. Do you want to go darker or lighter now? You could just go blonde instead."

"Darker. Definitely darker."

"I figured." She moves to the back and starts mixing dye. "So I need to stop at Apple and get a converter to plug into your system at the Training Center, and then I'm going to take you to a couple of boutiques and you're going to tell me what I should get to wear in Four. You know what works there and what doesn't."

"You want me to find you Four clothes in a Capitol boutique?"

"Don't worry about it, not all Capitol clothing is quite as crazy as the things you usually see…"

"Got it, okay."

She starts to apply the dye and then leaves the room to change into her own clothes. She comes back in a little black dress with lace strips revealing a silky red slip underneath, a red leather jacket, and some flat cloth shoes.

"You should be done now."

She quickly finishes the dye job and then pulls me into the cosmetology studio.

"Now for contacts. I have the blue, and…oh, a jade green! I'm thinking the green, you?"

"Sure."

"Yay. So here's what you need to do." She picks up her own bottle of purple. "Hold your head back, squeeze, wait for one, two, three, four drops, do the second eye, and then you're going to blink about fifteen times just to get it to solidify enough for it not to move when you bring your head back up. Then it will take about an hour and a half to solidify fully, and after that point you can take it out just like a contact."

I pick up the green bottle and copy what she just said before looking into the mirror. Between the dye job and the contacts, I don't even recognize myself.

"We need to go to your room so you can change, and to mine so I can put on makeup and get the sunglasses and my purse, and then we can go."

I follow her into the elevator and up to her room.

"If you want to go get the sunglasses while I put on makeup you can. They should be in the main closet in the master, just get the black Ray-Ban's."

I nod and walk out to the mechanized closet. It's the same as the one in my own bedroom but probably a bit smaller, and I wake up the touch panel on the front before finding sunglasses. The stats of each pair are underneath a thumbnail photo.

_RAY-BAN Jackie Ohh, Gradient Violet on Violet Frame, Crystal Gray Gradient Lens_

Purple frames. No.

_GUCCI Butterfly Frame, Palladium/Pink Rose Metal Frame, Orange Pink Shaded Lens_

_OAKLEY Custom Fuel Cell, Custom Frame, Black Iridium Polarized Lens_

_RAY-BAN Original Wayfarer, Black Frame, G-15 XLT Polarized Lens_**[1]**

That's them.

I tap "Dispense" and the glasses pop out at the bottom. As I reach down to get them Lallie walks in made up with a small clutch in her hand, although her hair's still down.

"I couldn't be bothered to braid my hair. We need to hit your room and then we can go."

I nod and follow her back to the elevator. She strides into the penthouse and goes to the identical closet in my master bedroom and furiously taps the screen until she gets a pair of combat boots, black bootcut jeans, and a black t-shirt with an image of a spider and some type of desert scene superimposed over the word "MCR".

"Great band," Lallie says as she hands me the t-shirt, but otherwise doesn't comment on why I'm suddenly dressing like Jayde.

"Why so much black?"

"Because you don't like it. It's not supposed to seem like you, and I know this doesn't."

No, it doesn't.

"Do you own a wallet?" she asks.

"Yes."

"Do you have it here?"

"Yes, why?"

"Bring it with you, you're going to want to keep your Metro pass in it."

I grab my wallet off of my nightstand and shove it in my back pocket.

"Alright, let's go."

While we're in the elevator Lallie texts Jayde about where we're going. She responds with "K", which doesn't tells us much about how she feels about this, but we continue on anyway.

As soon as we step out of the building I'm overwhelmed. I've been in the Capitol for four days now, but this is my first time going out since that dentist appointment. Home and work are both in that same building, so there's not much reason for me to leave.

"How far is it?" I ask as I slip the sunglasses off my head and onto my face.

"The walk to the Metro is just under a kilometer, and then it's about five from there; we're the third stop once we get on."

_What?_

"Metro?"

"Oh gosh, you wouldn't be familiar with the metro, would you? It's public transportation…and it's hard to explain. You'll see."

Lovely. I'm not fond of hearing "you'll see" when it relates to Capitol things.

During the fifteen minute walk Lallie answers all of my stupid questions about the Capitol stuff around me. I feel like a little kid, but if I'm supposed to get to know this place I'm going to need to understand the environment.

Eventually we approach a building labeled with a blue circle with the number eleven and the words "Crystal City".

"This is the Crystal City metro station. It's closest to us, so it's probably the one you'll stop at the most. It's part of the Cobalt line, which serves the No Press Business District. We're taking it to Industry Transfer, which where we can jump on the Violet line for the Fashion/Business District, where the mall is."

I nod, even though I don't have the first clue about what any of that means.

She stops at a touch screen kiosk.

"You'll be here until the first week of January, right?"

"Yeah, I leave the eighth."

She nods and taps "Six Week Pass" on the screen.

Eighty bucks. Expensive, but not cost prohibitive on a victor's salary.

I pull out my wallet but Lallie shakes her head and pulls out her own credit card.

"Project card. The same people who organize this whole thing foot the bill for anything that has to do with you."

I can't help but wonder who "the people who organize this whole thing" are.

The machine spits out a plastic card.

"This'll get you on here for free until you leave. Keep it out now because you're going to need it in a second to get onto the platform, but after that put it somewhere safe."

"Got it."

The station is incredibly crowded, and although Lallie is an expert at weaving through crowds, I can barely keep her in sight. I almost trip twice, once of the train of some woman's dress, and a second time over someone's toddler, before we get to the place where you enter the platform.

"The card emits a frequency, so you can keep it in your wallet when you scan it, just slide it past this box. Stay still for the camera until it flashes, and then you can push through the turnstile."

I copy her movements and follow her into an underground tunnel.

"Since the ID is image based do I need to have dark hair and green eyes ever time I come through here?"

"No. They also do a retina scan with that first image. The only surgeries that would change your retina are incredibly intrusive and rare, so it's usually not an issue. Even laser eye surgery wouldn't affect your it. They do have protocol for if your retina scan changes, but they usually don't have to use it."

As we reach the swarming platform an announcement comes over the intercom saying "Train Approaching: Cobalt line to Station Ten: Industry Transfer on the left."

Lallie smiles. "Perfect timing."

We get on the train and pass two stations before we reach our own.

"Next Stop: Station Five, Commercial Center Transfer. All passengers must disembark here. To continue on the Violet line to Sixth Avenue station exit to the right, to transfer to the Carmine or Jade lines exit to the left."

"We're going to the right. Hardly anyone goes past here on the Violet line so you get off on the same side to exit."

I nod. "What the heck are the lines named after?"

She snorts. "Colors, but they're stupid fancy names. Carmine is red, Jade is green, Violet is obviously violet, Ebony is black, Cobalt is blue, Mulberry is a mix of red and purple, and Slate is gray with a blue-ish tint."

Only in the Capitol. The train starts to slow and I lean forward to keep from falling like Lallie showed me after my fail earlier.

"This is…Station Five, Commercial Center Transfer. All passengers must disembark here. To continue on the Violet line or exit the Metro station exit to the right, to transfer to the Carmine or Jade lines exit to the left. Have a nice day, and thank you for choosing Capitol Metro!"

The train stops and I follow Lallie off and out of the station. In front of me is a four story building made of glass that stretches almost as far as I can see.

"Welcome to the Capitol Commercial Center, CCC, or the mall," Lallie says with a smile.

_Here goes nothing_.

**...**

**FOOTNOTES**

If you'd like to see these do a Google Images search on the "Ray-Ban Original Wayfarer Sunglasses" because the hyperlink was ridiculously long.

**...**

**A/N: I know, you don't get to see Finnick in the mall. I was so bored writing it that I figured you _definitely_ be bored reading it, so I cut it. Nothing happened in this chapter, but I'm starting Six right now, so that should be the last one before I go to Africa.**

**Please review, I really appreciate the feedback!**

**-cindella204**


	27. Part II Chapter 6

**SHOUT OUTS:**

**Thanks to _LikeACheshireCat_, _shielmaiden19_, _QueenCobraWing_, _Floracat_, and _The Fancy Unicorn_ for reviewing!**

**...**

**DISCLAIMER:**

**There are several concepts, characters, and real life things that I use and/or mention in this chapter that I don't own. These include but are not limited to the Hunger Games, Finnick Odair, FaceTime, Starbucks, and the twin-tailed siren logo.**

**...**

**A/N: This one's a bit rushed because I will be getting in the car to head to the airport in less than two hours. Yes, this is my last chapter before my trip to Africa. I will try to write on the plane though, for more details on that see the bottom A/N that way those of you who are used to my infrequent updating and don't care about the why/how don't have to read it.**

**There's more stuff on Polyvore (cindella204 . polyvore . com). You should just keep checking for this entire part; pretty much every outfit I mention will be up there.**

**...**

**IN THIS CHAPTER: **Nothing O_o

**...**

**CHAPTER 6**

******December 5**

My phone's ringing.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Finnick, it's Lallie. Can you get on FaceTime?"

"Yeah, but my computer's shut down so it'll be a minute. Are you setting up now?" I ask as I go to my desk in the drawing room and start up my computer. After our little "shopping trip" yesterday Lallie and I quickly filmed an explanation video for today's assembly, and then she flew out early this morning. Said assembly should be starting in about thirty minutes.

"Yeah, we want to run a test and make sure that your computer's going to cooperate with this one, etcetera."

My computer finally gets to the home screen and I click on the icon for FaceTime.

"While I've got you on the phone, I'm just doing that "what you could win" part, right?"

We did make a decision, but it was about two in the morning and I honestly don't remember what it was.

"Yeah."

Lallie's face pops up on my computer screen, and I hang up the phone.

"Hey. I'm going to run the presentation for my part from my computer, right?"

She nods. "Can you open it and just run through the first two slides to make sure it works? You have to put it on share my screen, first."

I yawn and give her a half-nod. Jayde was right, doing this in the time-frame we have is a bit ridiculous, I honestly don't know how Lallie's still standing. I went to bed at three, but she went straight to a hovercraft so that she could check in with the Training Center before all the instructors got busy doing prep.

The presentation we finished last night pops up, and I put it into presenter mode. The auditorium pops up in the top right corner, and my face is underneath it.

"Can you see that?" I ask.

"Perfect," she says. "Turn your selective listening on though, I'm getting background noise."

Crap, I forgot about that. Apparently there's some type of censor technology that will filter out any background dialogue, but let you speak and be heard without pressing a button or needing a keyword. I honestly don't know how it can tell the difference between me talking to someone else in the room and the person across the screen, but Lallie insists it works, and attempted to explain it to me, but it was completely over my head.

I really don't care all that much anyway.

"When you're up speaking are you going to have the camera on you, or the auditorium?"

Lallie's face comes back into the camera as she overrides my presenter setting.

"It'll look something…like…this."

Either we've gotten a new projector since I've last been there or Lallie brought one, but it's projecting on air. There's nothing solid behind it, but it looks better than it ever did on our screen.

Weird.

I hear the warning bell ring in the background. A5 starts in five minutes.

"You're starting at quarter past, right?"

"Yeah. How does your schedule work again?"

"School starts at eight; four fifty-five minute classes with five minute breaks in between until eleven fifty-five. We break for lunch, and then report to the Training Center for fifth block by thirteen o'clock. Break is at fourteen fifty-five, sixth block starts at fifteen oh-five, training ends at seventeen." 1

She nods. "Got it. I need to go talk to your mom and get the final stuff set up, so see you in fifteen. If you want to get food or whatever you should do that now, because it would be great if you could stay the whole time, but be back by five till _at least_. And go comb your hair while your at it."

My mom's doing tech for the Training Center now that she's living in Victor's Village. When they got a whole bunch of new computers, a gift from the Capitol for my victory, she already knew how to use them from the several in our house.

I fight the urge to roll my eyes at the last statement and get up.

Time to go.

**...**

_Five._

_Four._

_Three._

_Two._

_One._

Start with an effortless smile. "Hey girls. For those of you who don't know, I'm in the Capitol working on a project called STORM, and I need one of _you_ to be a part of it."

Next slide, the STORM logo.

"STORM at it's most fundamental level is a fragrance line, but in reality it's so much more than that. It's also a lifestyle, one that one of you is going to represent. STORM needs a female model, and since there are so many _beautiful_ girls here in our on district I figured this would be the best place to look for one. So here's what _you_ could win:"

Next slide.

"Firstly, you'd be our model for STORM, meaning that you'd be on the packaging, in both paper and television based promotional materials, and you'd do an interview with the Capitol magazine PanemHEAT."

A couple of faces light up. For a large fee you can get it shipped here, so some of the better off girls probably have a subscription. The ones infatuated with the Capitol life, because it's really not much more than meaningless Capitol gossip and advertisements.

"Also, you would get you're own five ounce bottle of the female STORM fragrance as well as a copy of all the promotional materials, signed by me and everyone else on the STORM team. And you'd get to spend your Christmas at the studio with us in the Capitol."

A couple of jaws drop at the whole "Christmas in the Capitol" thing, and I'm not surprised. That's _huge_. We do Christmas in Four on a small scale, but celebrating it in the Capitol would be the experience of a lifetime.

I give another alluring smile. My jaw's starting to hurt.

"Now if you'd all give Lallie Renshaw a _warm_ District Four welcome, she'll explain how you can become that girl."

Lallie walks out onto the stage in a silky blue button down, denim shorts, and some combat boots that she insisted on wearing because it was "too conventional for her taste". I think I did pretty well with that, since most of the girls haven't changed into their training clothes yet she almost blends in. She's not wearing her glasses, but her purple sunglasses rest on top of her head.

"Hi girls. I'm Lallie, and you may or may not remember me from the Games. Anyway, I'll be working with STORM as the Executive Advertising Designer and Head of Promotion. Before we get to how you could win, I'd like to look at the qualifications needed and the expectations we would have, because this is essentially a job offer. There is financial compensation by the way, which Finnick didn't mention."

Whoops. I had a feeling I had forgotten something.

"So, qualifications."

She goes into a whole thing about what the models need to be willing to do, what skills they need to have, etc.

I hear my name and snap out of my daydream.

"Wait, what?" Fail.

A hint of a smirk crosses Lallie's face.

"Have you talked to Jayde about hair dye or demi-permanent makeup yet?"

Oh. "No, sorry."

She nods. "Jayde is our Executive Fashion and Cosmetology Director. Anyway, just know that you may or may not be doing that…"

She goes back into her talk, but I try to actually pay attention this time. It's hard when you've been basically trained to be ADHD, to notice every little inconsequential thing going on around you because it will save your _life_ in the arena. It's worse when I'm tired. There's a scientific reason for that, but I don't know what it is.

"Okay, now for the how. The very first thing you're going to need is this form."

She holds up a sheet of paper.

"This is your Parental Permission form and you _must_ take it home and get it signed by a parent or legal guardian _to-night_. It basically says in legally binding language that if you get chosen your parents are okay with you fully participating. You're A5 teacher will give you a copy of it when you get back to class if you're interested. Make sure you get one, because we absolutely cannot choose you if this is not on record when you submit you're portfolio, which you'll be making tomorrow. Speaking of that, portfolio. I understand that because tomorrow's Saturday you'll have all four training classes."

Nods around the room.

"If you're taking Gen. Phys. Ed. or an Independent Study, your teacher tomorrow will have a time block when they can send you, so you just need to ask them when you should go. If not, pick whatever class you're best in, and kindly explain that you'd like to participate and ask if you can go. You're going to need to bring your Parental Permission form and Secondary Education ID card with you as well as a partner. You can change in Dressing Room C, and then head to the Overflow gym."

She clicks over to our video.

"Watch this."

It starts with us walking into the photography studio, which we set up to look similar to how it will tomorrow.

The little iMac sits in the center of the room and Lallie walks up to it and starts typing into the application form. As soon as she gets half way through her name the video freezes and a washout effect allows you to read the text that pops up soon after.

She must have done more editing on the hovercraft.

The real Lallie on the stage starts speaking again.

"The first step is just to fill out the form. It's basic information—name, age, phone number, address, stuff like that—but we need to be able to get in contact with you, and by the Capitol's laws we also need to have records of that."

And back to the video.

Lallie takes her ID, well, mine because hers is a different size then ours and therefore wouldn't be a good example, and puts it in the "scanner".

Freeze frame again.

"Next you need to scan you Secondary Education ID. Please use that one even if you do have an Operator's ID 2 just for consistency since not all of you are old enough to have one of those. You're going to open the top on the scanner just like I did, flip it upside down and line up your picture with the triangle in the corner, close the top, and then click on the "Attach my ID" button at the bottom of the form."

Back to the video.

She clicks the button and after a second a picture of my ID pops up on the screen.

The video pauses again. Back to real Lallie.

"I used Finnick's ID because I only have a Capitol Driver's License and a Panem Inter-District Travel License, and they're a different shape and size so they wouldn't make a good example. If you've done it properly, the scanner is set so it will automatically align it to be the right direction. If you realize you put it in wrong you can open the scanner again, move it, and then click 'Refresh' underneath the picture and it will re-scan.

Video.

Lallie takes my ID out of the scanner and puts in a copy of the Parental Permission form. This time it doesn't stop until after the image pops up on the computer screen.

"You're going to click 'Attach Parental Permission Form' and then line up the corner with the triangle on it with the triangle in the scanner. It should pop up just the same. When you're done with that you can click okay and then start taking your pictures."

In the video I pick up the camera sitting next to the computer, and turn it on.

Freeze frame.

Lallie reaches into her bag and pulls out the same camera. "This is the Glasma Fashion DSLR 3200. Because it's made specifically for photoshoots it'll automatically pick the best settings for your type of shot. You are going to take three pictures, a headshot, a full body with the prompt 'sexy', and then another full body which is whatever you want. Starting with the headshot."

In the video it shows me turning a dial on the top to "SCENE", a then selecting headshot on the screen. I lift the camera to Lallie, and it automatically zooms into her face.

And the video pauses again, with a slide on the headshot popping up.

"If the camera is set to headshot it will automatically zoom properly, so you won't have to worry about that. I would count backward from five, just so that your partner knows you're about to take the shot, and then you're going to press and hold the silver button at the top until you see the flash."

Back to the video. I take Lallie's headshot and it flashes onto the camera's screen, with a little number '29' at the bottom.

And the video stops again.

"In the bottom right corner of the camera's screen you see the number '29'. This is how you'll record the image so that we can see it. On the computer application, you'll see where it says 'Headshot: Image #' and a blank. In that blank you need to type twenty-nine."

She plays the video again and I watch as I switch the camera to full body and take her next two shots, recording the number. The third one we purposely mess up so that she can show how to change an image.

"If you make a mistake, you can always take a new—"

"Finnick?"

I turn in my chair to see Jayde standing behind me. She hands me a white cup with some kind of mermaid on it.

"A mermaid?" I ask. In Four mermaids have a certain connotation attached to them that would not make you want to put them on your drinks.

"Twin-tailed siren."

"That's not what a siren looks like. A siren—"

"It's a siren. In their official files it's trademarked as a siren. If you don't think it's right you can take that up with Starbucks. Anyway, I know you and Lallie were still up when I went to bed at about two, so I figured you could use that," she says nodding at the cup.

I cautiously take a sip of it. It's warm, and sweet, and actually really good.

"That's nice. What is it?"

"Raspberry hot chocolate with two energy shots. You should start feeling it in about ten minutes."

I nod. "Thanks."

"No problem," she says, and walks over to her desk where she pulls out a sketchbook and starts drawing.

Back to Lallie and the assembly. She just finished talking about how to change the background to black if you're wearing a lot of white so it shows up better.

When she turns the video back on it's me clicking submit, and then it ends.

"Alright girls, that's it, so get a Parental Permission form from your teacher, get it signed tonight, and then come back in tomorrow. If you have any questions I'll be in the overflow gym all day except for during lunch, so just ask. Anything you want to say, Finnick?"

I put the camera back on me and give another dazzling smile. Last one.

"Just that I can't wait to see what you all submit, and I'm looking forward to working with one of you."

"Alright then, I'm not sure how you usually dismiss from this room, but hopefully I'll see a lot of you tomorrow," Lallie says to close, and then the disconnects.

Thank God that's done. Now we just have to choose one and get her out here.

**...**

**FOOTNOTES**

That made no sense and my scanner's broken, but here's a crappy phone picture: sta . sh / 0v20l9iwpnu

Think a US Driver's License

**...**

**A/N: So, my trip to Africa. My plane flies out at 5:45 Eastern Daylight Time and will land in Johannesburg, South Africa about eighteen hours later. I will spend the night in Johannesburg with no internet (or heat :P) and then the next day we drive seven hours to Swaziland. At that point I'll have internet again, although I'm not sure when I'll get the chance to use it, so then you should (but might not) get a new chapter. Even if there's no new chapter you'll get review replies.**

**Lots of reviews for when I get internet again?**

**-cindella204**


	28. Part II Chapter 7

**SHOUT OUTS:**

**Thanks to _NervousPurpleHairSpray_ (x6), _Anonymous_, _shieldmaiden19_, _QueenCobraWing_, and _The Ice Within_ (x2) for the reviews! I _will_ be replying to those individually, it's just I haven't gotten internet until now and I wanted to get this up first. I'll answer your reviews as soon as I submit this.**

**...**

**DISCLAIMER:**

**There are several concepts, characters, and real life things that I use and/or mention in this chapter that I don't own. These include but are not limited to the Hunger Games and Finnick Odair.**

**...**

**A/N: First of all, I am SO sorry that those of you who reviewed haven't gotten replies yet. They _promised_ us that the internet really worked, but with all our phones, iPads, and laptops (fifteen people on the trip, most of us have two devices) the server got overloaded, and it took them forever to fix it. As I'm writing this right now we don't have internet (or power, it went out about five minutes ago for some reason), but if you're reading this then obviously they were able to get it fixed. So sorry about that. For those of you who don't know, I'm in Swaziland (shares a border with South Africa and Mozambique) right now. **

**Speaking of that, we flew into South Africa and South African Air was showing the Hunger Games on the plane! I watched it, and it was better the second time like everyone said. So that was awesome.**

**And lastly, I wrote a majority of this on the eighteen hour flight from Washington DC to Johannesburg, South Africa or the seven hour drive from Johannesburg to South African Nazarene University, so that might have something to do with how sarcastic and generally ticked off Finnick seems in this chapter O_O Just the narration has a pretty negative tone...**

**...**

**IN THIS CHAPTER: **Mild adult language

**...**

**CHAPTER 7**

******December 6**

"New text message from: Lallie Renshaw. Read it?"

"Yes."

"'I've got a girl here wondering what the minimum clothing limit is for her photos.'"

And she's asking _me_ about that?

I think for a second. I don't want to be getting porn, but if that's what sexy means to said girl…

"Reply 'Sports bra and running shorts or a swimsuit equivalent.'"

Dear God, what else did I forget to think about?

**...**

**December 7**

"Would it be easier to get on FaceTime with share screen on so we're both seeing the same thing?" I ask. The portfolios all downloaded late last night, but Lallie and I agreed that we wanted to look at them together, and she was exhausted, so we figured we could make a more informed decision today.

"Actually, that's a really good idea. I'll probably have to head over to your house though, I'm not authorized for the Training Center's wi-fi anymore. It'll be about fifteen minutes."

Lallie's been staying there. We have eight unoccupied guest rooms, a whole floor of them, so we figured that there might be space for her somewhere.

Maybe.

"That's fine. See you then."

"Yep," she replies and hangs up.

I go down to the studio and get my laptop. I took a sketchbook and one of the pencil sets upstairs last night because I just wanted to be alone, so I never bothered to go down this morning after I got ready. I'm not sure why, Jayde's the only one in there regularly and she has been carefully avoiding me over the last fews days, but I am tired and stressed, and when that happens I get miserable.

That's what happened in the arena and almost lost me Korey.

We've got way too much to do—_I've got way too much to do_.

Choose a model.

Get her flown out here.

Fabricate a "lifestyle" for this brand.

Create _two_ characters to represent that.

Create the hair, makeup, and clothing to make said female model and I into those two characters.

Photo shoots.

Filming advertisements.

Press Releases.

Idiot magazines—

"Hey Finnick?"

Jayde stands in the entryway of the Drawing Room looking…nervous.

"Yeah?"

"Can I come in?"

I raise an eyebrow. She's asking me if she can enter the Drawing Room of her own studio? She stays in the door frame, so I verbally invite her in.

"Are you and Lallie going to be picking out your model soon?" she asks.

Oh. So _that's_ what this is about.

"Mhmm, do you want to stay and help?"

She visibly relaxes. "Can I? I know I've been really…stupid about this whole thing, but it would good to have me there from a purely business standpoint since I'm going to be heading up your fashion design. I'll understand though if you make me stick by my word, and won't let me. I said I wasn't doing sh*t, so you might not want me to now…"

She gives me this sad, lost look and I'm suddenly seeing a piece of Jayde that hasn't made itself known since my Games. Before I went in; when she was telling me her story. When I first realized that at heart she's not much more than a teenager—she's eighteen-with a very heavy past trying to find something better for herself in the future.

Lallie's exactly the same, but plus three years. It's probably why they're such good friends.

"Yeah, of course. Lallie should be on soon."

She smiles and pulls up a chair next to me as Lallie's name suddenly starts flashing in my connection list, and then her face pops up.

"Hey," she says with a smile that fades as her eyes land on Jayde.

She nods and bites out, "Jayde," before quickly turning back to me.

I never thought about the fact that _Lallie_ might not want her in at this point. It makes sense, Lallie's done this entire thing herself and then Jayde decides all of a sudden that she wants to be involved at the debatably most fun part, and definitely the most important. She's probably slightly p*ssed that I made this decision without her.

Then I realize that I don't care. Jayde was right about it being better from a business standpoint to have her here, and I really don't give a d*mn about how that makes Lallie feel.

That's kind of horrible.

But it's true.

I open the ModelBrowse and set FaceTime to show Lallie my screen cap instead of me.

We've got work to do.

**...**

There were two hundred twenty-three applicants.

Fourteen did not have valid Parental Permission Forms or IDs, leaving two hundred nine.

Thirty-seven of those I immediately cut out because their sexy picture looked like something out of Playboy, or worse. I need a girl who understands "effortlessly sexy", because that's what I am (supposedly, how the h*ll would I know what kind of sexy I am), and we need to be a pair.

One hundred seventy-two.

Jayde and Lallie work together to eliminate another sixty-seven whose body shapes "don't complement mine". I take that to mean they just don't look good enough next to me, even though Lallie insists it's actually a marketing strategy that she doesn't want to explain, and I probably don't want to hear.

She's right.

One hundred five.

Next they go to body proportions looking at height and weight in the application form.

Seven are too big (tall) and seventeen are too small (short).

"Anything else we want to automatically strike out before we start looking at them and individually rating them? Eighty-one is a lot."

I consider "Take out everyone with a North Side address", but that probably wouldn't be fair.

The North Side is a tiny part of District Four where most of the money is, and its residents make sure that you know it. The Northeastern District (Part of the East Side, _not_ the North Side) is probably the poorest part of Four (Guess who's from there?), and then the people get richer as you move counterclockwise until you get to the North Side. The middle class lives in the West Side. That's where the schools are, and the majority of the markets, too. I was never a North Side kid even when my dad was around, he refused to live there so we were just in the Northwestern district, and since I've spent most of the years where it counts on the East Side my experiences with North Side kids are generally not positive. Until now. It's the typical rich kid is a jerk to poor kid, but poor kid suddenly experiences a miracle and becomes "above" rich kid, then rich kid is suddenly _very_ nice to former poor kid, but former poor kid remembers their past and still hates rich kid.

How charming.

"Is there a way that I can put a filter for North Side addresses so I can see them all together?"

"Can I see it?" Jayde asks, and I slide the computer toward her. After a few clicks she has it back to me with a bar at the top saying it's filtered.

"Thanks."

I take out all the girls I recognize, fourteen of them, leaving only three North Sides left.

Sixty-seven.

"Oh, Finnick, do you have a preference on hair length? The ones with long hair know they may have to cut it, but it would probably take a day or two with supplements to grow out short hair and I'm not sure we have time for that. And wigs are a pain."

"Oh my God, yes," Jayde says with a nod. "No wigs if I have anything to do with it."

I think about that for a moment. Long hair could be good. I'm not sure if we're shooting in an actual storm or a computer generated one, but either way you could wet it down and there would be wind…

"Long hair would be good. We could always cut it later if we need to."

That's knocks out forty-two. Twenty-five left. Time to rate them.

**...**

Nikhila Perez.

Born December 17, sixteen years old.

One hundred seventy centimeters, fifty four kilograms. 1

Long coppery hair, sea green eyes.

Average build and effortlessly sexy.

My model.

**...**

**FOOTNOTES**

That should be approx 5'7" and 120 pounds. I didn't have internet, so I did the conversions from memory (rounded conversions, I doubt it's exactly 2.2 lbs per kg)

**...**

**A/N: This whole no internet thing has been hard for me...I feel like such a spoiled American. If you haven't gotten a review reply yet then it's on the way.**

**More reviews? Please? I know I didn't reply, but I am grateful, I promise!**

**Please?**

**-cindella204**


	29. Part II Chapter 8

**SHOUT OUTS:**

**A big thank you to _shieldmaiden19_, _The Fancy Unicorn_, _Floracat_, _QueenCobraWing_, _The Ice Within_, _LikeACheshireCat_, _patronumfire7_, _paigemariexo_, and _HeroInTraining_ for the reviews on the last chapter!**

**Also a BIG thank you to the lovely _QueenCobraWing_ who noticed that the stats I gave you for Nikhila's height, weight, and age would give her a BMI considered by the US CDC as underweight O_O That was _completely_ unintentional, I was not trying to make her underweight because she was a model or anything of the sort. I do address it in the chapter though.**

**...**

**DISCLAIMER:**

**There are several concepts, characters, and real life things that I use and/or mention in this chapter that I don't own. These include but are not limited to the Hunger Games and Finnick Odair.**

**...**

**A/N: I'm back in the US of A! It's good to be home. I got SO. MANY. REVIEWS. on the last chapter. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I didn't get to check my email much while I was in Africa, but when I would at breakfast or dinner there'd be so many review alerts! Ah, I love you all!**

**PTSD!Finnick and sexgod!Finnick on the way folks. Enjoy it.**

**...**

**IN THIS CHAPTER: **Moderate adult language and moderate sexual themes

**...**

**CHAPTER 8**

**December 8**

Lallie's face pops up in FaceTime. She says something about the plan for today, but I'm too distracted by the purple stone on her necklace to know what it is.

_Lallie loves purple, so that shouldn't be surprising. It has absolutely nothing to do with…_

Korey. The train. Her story. The Games. The knife. The poison. Her giving it to me before she died…

_Focus. You need to focus._

I try to tune back into what Lallie is saying.

"—I know that you wanted to take the blue and cyan color families, maybe some green too, the District Four colors, so we'll need to—"

Blue. Cyan. Green.

The handle on the knife. The rest of the beads on the necklace. The tree she died under.

_D*mmit. _This has happened before and even though I'm totally aware that it's happening it's incredibly hard to stop. Anything and everything becomes a trigger to have me reliving the Games.

_Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Every victor to ever live has had it, and every one to come probably will._

"Finnick?"

I shake my head and try to shove away the Games. Back to the little corner of my head where it'll stay until it decides to come haunt me again.

"Sorry, what?"

She starts to get frustrated, but something in my face stops her, and she softens.

I just lovebeing a victor.

Note my _extreme_ sarcasm.

**...**

**December 9**

_We'll be there in thirty. I talked to Jayde, we're going to introduce her to the Capitol and maybe you can start designing stuff, but there's no real objective today. Make sure the penthouse is ready._

I'm surprised Jayde agreed to that, but it makes sense. They don't really care about what's best for tributes, they're throwing us into a televised fight to the death for God's sake, but just getting used to the insanity that is the Capitol deserves its own day.

And the penthouse, crap. One of Jayde's terms was that she had to stay with me, which I'm fine with since I have four bedrooms and three bathrooms. I know back home people always turn extra rooms into offices or hobby rooms, but I already have both of those.

The bedrooms are fine, but all the shared spaces are way more of a mess than they should be considering that I don't have much stuff to make a mess with. I've never had the luxury of stopping and putting things away the right way, and now that I do it's just too much work to change the habit. Even though we have an hour lunch break back home between school and training, it's a twenty minute walk from school to the house, twenty minutes from the house to the ferry, and I had to be at the ferry at 12:47. That left seven minutes to grab lunch, dump out my school stuff, pack for training, and get out the door again. Whether I had folded my school clothes (if I wasn't wearing the same thing to training) properly was never the biggest thing on my mind.

I hurriedly start throwing crap into drawers. I probably won't remember where I put anything, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

**...**

**30 Minutes Later**

_We're down in the studio._

They're here.

I grab my phone from the table and get into the elevator.

_Oh God._

The elevator dings and the doors open.

Lallie walks into the foyer.

"Hey Finnick. I said no objective today, but it looks like we're going to need some basic sketches. I need to order some stuff based on what you want to do, and Jayde needs to start sewing, so…

"Yeah. We'll talk."

She nods. "We're in the Drawing Room."

I follow her over there. Jayde's at her desk with Nikhila and a laptop opened to a virtual makeover site. They both turn when I walk in, and Nikhila stands.

We shake hands.

"Hi. Nikhila Perez," she says, a bit breathlessly.

I'm still not used to the celebrity factor. Other than the PTSD I don't feel any different. I mean, we have way more money now, but I don't _feel_ different. _Everyone_ sees me differently though.

I guess they did promise fame and fortune once you won.

"Finnick Odair, nice to meet you."

She nods.

I step back and try to get a good look at her figure without seeming like a creeper. She has a very small frame; I knew that from her photo, but she doesn't look too skinny. I realized after the fact that her height, weight, and age would actually put her at slightly underweight according to the health standards. She doesn't it look it though, she's really slim, but she's not skinny like she's not eating enough.

Good.

"Hey Jayde, Lallie was talking about you needing to sew, so what should I design first?"

"Nikhila's stuff. Unless you have a certain signature item you want I'll probably buy all of your stuff. If you need a dress or a shirt for her though I'm going to need to start that ASAP."

Lallie walks over to the inspiration window. "Can you two come here for a second, I want to show you some stylistic stuff and then you can start designing whatever."

We both walk over to the window.

Here goes.

**...**

**December 10**

"So…"

I took for granted that Korey and I already knew each other when we got reaped together. Then there was none of the awkward "we just met and I have no clue what to talk to you about" phase with her.

My pre-Games life was three things: school, training, and work.

She's two years ahead of me in school. I had that one class with Korey because her schedule was all jacked up to accommodate an independent study she was taking, but generally I wouldn't have classes with a sixteen year old. The class structure changed starting with my class, so I don't know how school is set up for her.

I have no clue what work means to her, if anything.

Well then, training.

"Were you a training center kid? I don't remember seeing you although I was in classes with most of the fifth years."

"Yeah, but I started late. Both my parents…well, they don't really agree with the idea of training kids to volunteer. They think it's morally wrong and taking advantage of kids, I don't know, this is just what they said. I took me two years to convince them to let me train; I told them that although I'd never volunteer the athletic skills we learn would be good for working on the boats later on in life and that learning self-defense could never hurt. Or if I somehow got reaped. After seeing the 63rd Games something about it convinced them to let me. Of course I had missed all the foundation classes and the first two years, so I have classes with all the fourteen year olds. It kind of sucks, but I'm glad to be training at all."

Finally. Something to actually talk about.

"Oh, okay. So are you in GW 301 right now?"

"Yeah, I just started it. My birthday's next week, so then I'll be _seventeen_ in a class full of fourteen year olds, but you know how it goes, it's however old you are when the Games end regardless of how close you are."

I nod. "Mine was last week, so I've always been close. Supposedly in Two there cutoff is Christmas so that everyone's on a level-playing field for at least three months, not that age is all that contributes to a level playing field. Who's your teacher for 301?"

"Tomasik. Did you have him?"

"Oh God, yes, unfortunately. Korey and I pretty much stuck together and did what we wanted in that class."

I'm pleasantly surprised that I can say her name without my voice cracking by the end of the sentence.

Nikhila launches into a story about her last class before she came here, and having to tell him that she'd be gone for almost a month.

The ice is broken.

Thank God.

**...**

**December 11**

"Finnick and Nikhila, can you come here for a second?" Lallie asks. "I'm in the photography studio."

We enter the room to find Lallie setting up a video camera.

"I don't remember if I told you guys this or not, but you're going to shoot a television ad here in the Capitol after the photoshoot. We're going to take video clips just of the beach and such and then film you separately on a green screen."

"Green screen?" Nikhila asks.

"Yeah. We literally hang a green curtain behind you when we film you and then tell the computer that anywhere that is green should be the video of the Four storm. Then we'll use CGI, computer-generated imagery, I think, to make it look real."

Oh. I guess that's cool, although when you think about what you could do with that…

You could fake video footage of _anything_.

"Anyway, the reason I brought you here is actually for an acting activity. I know that Nikhila and I talked about this on the hovercraft in, but both of you are playing characters for all the promotional stuff we do. Honestly, I think this will be harder for you, Finnick, just because your name is on it. Your character's name is Finnick Odair. He's fifteen, he has sea green eyes and bronze-y hair unless it's dyed darker, and he won the 65th Hunger Games, but he's _not_ you, and the sooner you realize that the better."

I knew that from the start. It's funny how at first a victor seems like the idea person to promote a product, but on second thought they're the worst. Fame and universal appeal doesn't cover up brokenness and pure hatred for the Capitol lifestyle.

Or a heavy dose of psychological scarring.

I suppose someone thinks that it's worth it though because Jayde and Lallie are here doing this with me and someone's paying for it all.

"Anyway, characters. We want sexy, we've been over that, but in a different way then we've done before. Before it's been the effortless and unintentional, almost like you didn't even realize what you were doing. This time we want it to be a little more intentional, or not even intentional, just like you _know_ what you're doing, and you like it."

"What?" Nikhila asks.

"Basically you're sexy and you know it. So I've been doing marketing development blah blah, and we've got like a slogan now, 'Unleash the STORM within.' So you're going to stand here in front of this camera with no makeup, no hairstyling, and no wardrobe and say it however you want, move however you want, to make it sexy."

Well.

"Who wants to go first?"

"I guess…I guess I will," Nikhila says.

Good. That gives me time to figure out what I'm going to do with this.

"Just give me a second." She closes her eyes and her teeth clench. When she opens her eyes again I can see the difference in her face. She saunters toward the white screen and runs a hand through her hair, smirking at the camera.

It's so similar to what I've been doing since this whole Games mess started that it's actually kind of unsettling to see someone else doing it.

She leans forward and whispers silkily, "Unleash the _STORM_ within," before pushing the camera away from her and walks off.

Okay, that was hot.

Lallie stands in the corner, nodding appreciatively. "Not bad, that was great. Finn?"

Finn?

"Yeah, give me a second."

I squeeze my eyes shut and try to focus on the task at hand.

_Sexy and I know it. Make them want you. Sexy, sexy, sexy._

Go time.

I put Elesah's training on walking into good use.

"Unleash the _STORM_ within."

I draw out the word "storm" and accompany it with a suggestive facial expression. It's scarily natural; I don't really need to think about what I'm doing, I just automatically…do it.

I add a wink at the end for good measure and leave the camera before turning to Nikhila and Lallie.

Lallie is absolutely speechless, and Nikhila just says "God."

Not sure if that's good or bad.

Lallie finally speaks. "Holy_ f—_."

"What?" I ask.

She shakes her head and quickly pulls up the video we just recorded on the computer.

Lallie's was definitely right about me playing a character, because it's _not_ myself I see on the screen in front of me.

Firstly, "my" eyes are about five shades darker than I've ever seen them. I had absolutely no intention of doing that, didn't even know I could on command like that, and it's _scary_.

"Unleash the _STORM_ within." I knew that I had drawn out "storm", but hearing it back is something else that I can't really explain. The way Lallie's eyes widen as she watches it again suggest that it was good though.

And a salacious wink to finish it off.

Definitely not me.

"Do you think you could do that for an extended period of time?" Lallie asks.

"Do what?"

"Your eyes. I was actually planning to order you a bottle of contact drops just for that, but if you can do it naturally then I won't need to."

"I have no clue, I wasn't even trying to do that. I thought 'sexy and I know it' and what happened happened.

She raises an eyebrow. "You are not normal, Finnick."

"You're just figuring that out? Especially since you met me after my Games you'd think that was pre-established."

She shrugs. "Second activity. Finnick I _know_ that you can do this, and from what I've heard about District Four I'm sure you can to Nikhila, but I want to get the awkwardness out of it now."

"And that is?"

"Kissing. Making out. Hot make out session. Etc."

Nikhila starts blushing like crazy, and I bite my lip to keep from pulling a face. I'm not particularly surprised by her request, but when you say it like _that_…

"I know you two probably don't have as much…experience as a Capitol kid your age would, so you may not be as good at it—"

"Challenge?" I mutter under my breath, and the look on Nikhila's face tells me she's thinking the same thing.

"But try?" Lallie finishes.

"Fine," Nikhila says firmly. She's motivated by people doubting her like I am.

We cross in front of the camera and wait for Lallie's signal. She gives it and our lips meet.

She knows what she's doing.

Knows that you don't just start with an open-mouthed kiss, but you work your way up there.

Knows that she should keep her hands _moving_.

Knows how to work her tongue in my mouth to the point where I almost feel like I'm on fire.

What Lallie may or may not have realized is that she's going to be here for a _long_ time. In District Four we're all swimmers and we all love to prove people wrong.

Between the two of those combined Nikhila and I will be able to hold our breath for quite awhile.

Nikhila drops her hands from my hair and her thumbs hook in my belt loops. A shiver runs up my spine and I cover it by shifting my focus to her neck, littering it tiny kisses with just enough suction to keep things interesting. When I pull away she gives me a meaningful look, and I know exactly what she's getting at.

She's drawing the line here, and honestly I'm glad because this is getting closer to my own boundary lines then I'd like.

After about a minute more of that we pull apart, slightly breathless but feeling rather accomplished.

"We probably could have kept doing that for about five or so more minutes, but we were getting bored and we thought you might be too," I say with an air of conceit.

Lallie nods. "Okay. That was great. I'm impressed. Seriously."

I smile at Nikhila, and she returns it.

"Alright, go do whatever you need to get ready for Jayde. Thanks."

We both nod and exit the room.

**...**

**December 12**

"Is this final?" Jayde holds my latest sketch of Nikhila's dress. This is the fourth one.

"Yes."

"Are you sure? At this point once I start sewing it is what it is, because we leave in four days."

"Positive. This is it."

"Good."

The dress is made of lacy translucent fabric and has a gradient that goes from a slightly purple tinted red to black, with black accents at the top.

"Have you gotten shoes and jewelry yet?"

"Nope."

She shakes her head. "I'd bring that up with Lallie and Nikhila, because Lallie or I has to order them before we leave. Probably Lallie because I have to sew Nikhila's dress and maybe your shorts for the television shoot too."

"Got it. Are they still back in the cosmetology studio?"

"I have no idea, sorry, Finnick."

"You're good," I say as I walk over there.

Nikhila is sitting front of the mirror with Lallie in front of her applying eyeliner.

"Hey Finnick," she says without turning around.

"Hey. I've been ordered by Jayde to discuss shoes and jewelry with you two."

"For me or both of us?" Nikhila asks.

"Both of us, I guess."

Lallie nods, "Both of you. I was going to ask today so that I can put in the final orders. If I don't get it done today, I'll have to pay rush shipping."

"Okay, hopefully you two have ideas, because honestly, shoes and jewelry…yeah, not my forte."

"Well, I was thinking maybe a strappy sandal with a wedge heel for me? I don't know if that would technically go with the dress or whatever, but I like wedges, and…I don't know."

Lallie shakes her head. "No, that's great. I would have thought a wedged sandal too. Any opinion on materials? Leather, patent leather, plastic, cloth, snakeskin…"

"What's patent leather?"

"Leather with a shiny varnish on top."

"That might be good. Or snakeskin, that's shiny too, and the added texture might be interesting, I don't know. Finnick?"

I raise an eyebrow. "You're asking me? No clue, talk to Jayde."

Nikhila mutters something like "no help" under her breath before turning back to Jayde.

Well.

The entire conversation goes the same way, Lallie and Nikhila exchange ideas, they come to me for decisions, I don't have an answer, and then they go back to their conversation.

It could be worse.

It could be _much_, _much_ worse.

**...**

**A/N: I'm home now, so I'll have much more reliable internet access, but I have a lot of summer school work to catch up on so you won't necessarily get faster updates. I wrote 1,156 words of this today (or was it yesterday, it was probably yesterday in the States) on the plane. You should be proud of me ;)**

**Would you mind reviewing, I really like the feedback!**

**-cindella204**


	30. Part II Chapter 9

**SHOUT OUTS:**

**Shout outs going to _Floracat_, _QueenCobraWing_, _The Fancy Unicorn_, _shieldmaiden19_, _The Ice Within_, and _besthungergamesfanfic_ for their reviews. I really appreciate it!**

**...**

**DISCLAIMER:**

**There are several concepts, characters, and real life things that I use and/or mention in this chapter that I don't own. These include but are not limited to the Hunger Games, Finnick Odair, and Ray-Ban.**

**...**

**A/N: IMPORTANT: I have decided to participate in the August session for Camp NaNoWriMo using this story. If you were with me in November you'll remember that the point of the NaNo programs is to write 50,000 words in one month. What this'll mean for you guys is that this will be the last update in August, but when I come back in September I'll have a _whole bunch_ written.**

**This took forever to write because I'm obsessed with the Olympics and spent all my free time watching them. Sorry.**

**...**

**IN THIS CHAPTER: **STRONG adult language, Mild sexual themes

**...**

**CHAPTER 9**

**From: odalysayer52 at victors. hungergames. com**

**To: finnickodair65 at victors. hungergames. com**

**Subject: Your stuff?**

**Timestamp: 12:32 (1 hour ago)**

**Hey Finnick. We reassigned lockers today and you still have stuff in yours, so we didn't assign that one. You should probably come back and get it at some point if you still want it. Otherwise we can dump it all in the extra box.**

**Let me know.**

**-Odalys Ayer**

Well, I guess I should go get my stuff then.

**From: finnickodair65 at victors. hungergames. com**

**To: odalysayer52 at victors. hungergames. com**

**Subject: RE: Your stuff?**

**Timestamp: 13:15 (Moments ago)**

**I'll be over in about ten minutes.**

**-finnick**

I grab my keys and my training bag and head over to the docks. The six hundred meters**[1]** probably isn't even worth the gas of having to start the thing up, but if I swam it I'd have to get _wet_, and even if I didn't (Capitol technology)…I'm spoiled now and the effort just doesn't seem to be worth it.

I turn the key and speed off.

They've built a PWC dock at the Training Center too, just for the victors who work as Trainers. The life of a victor is rather anticlimactic with the exception of the Games and the Victory Tour, so we all need something to do. I've practically begged them to put me in a lower level General Weapons class, even if I was only an aide, but I'm not sure whether they'll be able to or not.

I enter the Training Center and immediately feel a burst of nostalgia for the place. Since I spent so much time here and my mom works here this was more like home than our actual house. I navigate through the familiar halls to the locker rooms in the back wing. Because it's the middle of B5 the hallways are almost deserted, although the ring of b*tchy North Side girls who always skip are outside of the GW 401 room giggling. They wink and give flirty smiles, and I ignore them. Of course _now_ they want something to do with me, whereas before, actually, check that, they always wanted to be involved with me. It was their brothers and boyfriends who couldn't stand me until now. I'm pretty sure I saw Branson's**[2]** little sister somewhere in there.

I make my way to the Boys N-S locker room and pull open the door. Like everything else it's gotten a major facelift since I won. The lockers all have little digital screens now instead of the badly-printed stickers we'd get every year, and there are number keypads for the combinations instead of locks. I walk back to the fifth row, OA-OE, and turn to walk back to the third column, where my locker's on top.

And stop in my tracks.

My ex-slash-maybe girlfriend is standing in front of my locker with her fingers clasped onto the grate. I know what she's staring at; there's a picture of us on our first date taped to the back wall of my locker. I don't even remember who took it—we have cameras in Four but they were never something I could afford until now—but I was able to make copies of it at school so there's one here, one in my school locker (which I also need to clean out), and one at home.

I just couldn't bear to throw it away.

"_Irlissa_?"

Her head snaps toward me so quickly that it looks painful and she gives me a classic deer-in-headlights look before a wall slides up leaving behind stony composure. It's something I'm familiar with from my frequent spats with Korey (before she, you know, _died_ in the Games), but I've never gotten it from Irlissa.

"Finnick," she says carefully.

About a thousand questions are running through my mind, including where the h*ll has she been for the last month and a half, why did she skip training from sometime during my Games to a week ago (I have sources), and most importantly why is she in the boys locker room in the middle of class staring at my locker.

I can't bring myself to voice any of those though.

We just stare at each other until she finally breaks the awkward silence with, "I can't."

I know she's in some way referring to the relationship we're supposed to be in right now, but I'm not sure if that's being in a relationship at all or playing the game we're playing, so I just reply with:

"Then don't."

"I'm not."

"I know."

Stare down again.

"Irlissa—"

"No, Finnick, I'm being stupid about this whole thing. I just, I mean, you've just experienced something completely life changing that I'm _never_ going to understand, God willing**[3]**, and, I just don't know…"

I raise an eyebrow. I had pretty much assumed that when she, you know, disappeared off the face of the earth for a month.

I tell her exactly that.

"Finnick, you _know_ what that was about."

"I do? Because I did try to figure that out in the first two weeks when I was trying to figure out what the _f—_ was going on and I honestly couldn't think of anything!"

She sighs. "Finnick…it's just, you know what, whatever. After the whole thing with the guy from Ten, where you kind of acted like a psychopath, no offense, I started getting the looks, and questions from the bold ones, and I just couldn't take it. Lance came over to my house the next day, the day you won, and we kinda got in a fight, and…yeah. I just felt like I couldn't face anyone, and then if I went back people would want to know where I was, so I didn't go back, and—"

"So you were going to just chill at home for the rest of your life because God forbid a couple _idiots_ make jack*ss comments?"

"Finnick, I'm here now aren't I?" She asks tiredly.

I'm not letting her off that easily.

"Yeah, you are, but is that your philosophy in life? Take the path of least resistance whatever the cost?"

The Irlissa I know doesn't do that. She does what's best for everyone involved regardless of the ramifications.

I'm learning all kinds of lovely new things about my girlfriend today.

"Finnick, you have _no_ idea what it's even like, so don't try to guilt—"

"I don't know what it's like?! What do you think people said to _me_ when I got back, if they were giving you sh*t just for being associated with me? I am oh so sorry that people are looking at you funny, but I'm probably the wrong person to whine to seeing as I'm the one everyone either can't stand to look at or wants to f—, neither of which are exactly ideal, and I can't even sleep at night because of the g*dd*mn nightmares!"

She heaves another sigh. "Okay, so maybe that was stupid—"

"Maybe?"

She bites her lip and sends me a look. "Definitely. That was stupid. Sorry. Honestly, what are we trying to accomplish with this conversation? This isn't going to work."

"No, obviously not."

"This relationship is over at this point."

"It's been over for a month and a half. Speaking of that, do you want your bracelet back? I was going to mail it to you. You could probably melt out the names if you could get a good blow torch and sell it." When I see the look she's giving me I add, "Or pay someone to do it for you. Or sell it to someone with the names still in and they could do it, but then you're probably going to get asked about it."

"Just mail it to me. I'll figure it out."

I nod.

"Bye, Finnick. It was good while it lasted."

"Yeah…bye."

I watch every step she takes 'till she's gone.

That's when it hits me.

She's _gone_.

No. She's been gone since the Games started. Another thing left in my Pre-Games era. She was something special though. I've had girls running after me since whenever girls decide that boys _don't _have cooties, and sure I've screwed around with them some (not literally), but she was pretty much my first real relationship.

I'm not counting the stupid hook ups in sixth and seventh grade when you're too young to actually do anything so you just spend your lunch break together every day, which you'd probably do anyway.

There was actually depth to our relationship though. Looking past the kissing, hand-holding, etc., she was my best friend plus some. _Always_ there, _always_ understanding…

_Was_.

Whatever. I open my locker and quickly sweep it's contents into my bag, not really caring what's what.

I'll figure it out at some point.

Or maybe not.

Like so many other things.

**...**

**December 15**

Someone's knocking on my door.

"It's open!" Opening the door myself would require actually getting out of bed, which is not happening right now.

Nikhila. Dressed and ready to go, which is strange. She's not usually an early riser.

"Oh, God, Finnick, I didn't realize you were asleep, sorry."

I shake my head. "No, it's fine. What time is it?"

"Eight forty-five."

"_Sh*t_!" We're supposed to be in the studio by nine o'clock for a photoshoot dress rehearsal.

"Yeah…I was trying to scavenge for breakfast food, and there were frozen waffles in the freezer, but then I could't figure out where the toaster is."

"It's this weird all-in-one thing, here, one sec, let me show you."

I slept in sweat pants last night (It's was absolutely _freezing_ for no apparent reason) so I reluctantly get out of bed and pad down the hallway toward the kitchen. They're the world's ugliest sweat pants—gray and covered in paint from a stupid school project—but they're super comfortable so I refuse to throw them out. And I couldn't care less right now anyway. I barely slept at all last night, what else is new, and I have to be ready for this dress rehearsal in fifteen minutes, a rehearsal for probably the second hardest thing I've ever done in my life. Even though things were incredibly _busy_ back in Four, everything had a routine and a rhythm. By Christmas of my first year of training and Second. Ed. I was used to the school-training-work deal, and then it was automatic and effortless. All of it, including the occasional inconveniences related to financial things, were _natural._

This.

Is.

Not.

Natural.

The photoshoot won't be too hard. We put on normal people clothes, stand on the beach, and get our pictures taken. I think we might kiss once, but it's just that, kissing. In the television commercial, which Lallie wants to rehearse too for some reason, we're wearing almost no clothing, standing on a cliff, and mind as well be having sex.

I've been dealing with girls all my life, it comes with the super-attractive thing, but I was the ultimate definition of _tease_. Look, don't touch. And then suddenly I became _hard to get_, so when Irlissa finally "got" me it was a whole thing. Poor Irlissa had a whole bunch of jealous girls giving her sh*t, and then I was getting the guys who wanted those girls giving me sh*t because their girl only wanted me, but the relationship was worth it to us, so we dealt with it, and it was great.

That's part of why I was so surprised when she got so bent out of shape after my Games.

"Oh is that it over there?" Nikhila points at the toaster oven in the opposite side of the counter.

"Yeah. It's also the microwave and a full functioning oven. Saves counter space. You turn it on and then select toast and put them in. Then you'll have to type in "waffles", say how toasted you want them, and hit start. It'll stop automatically when they are ready."

"Oh, wow, okay. Thanks."

"Yep, I'm going to go take a shower."

"'Kay. Do you want me to make you some?"

I look at the clock. 8:48. "Don't worry about it, I wouldn't have time to eat them. Thanks though."

"Yep."

I walk back to the master and enter the en-suite bathroom, rubbing my eyes. I am _exhausted_. Dreams that are actually just flashbacks are the worst for me. When it's just some twisted Games thing, I can wake up, realize it's not real, and move on. But flashbacks are real, and they bring a fresh wave of pain that I don't want to deal with.

This was bad timing for the Irlissa thing anyway since I'm going to spend the whole day making out with Nikhila.

I hop into the shower and try to find the time settings that I noticed a couple days ago. When I finally do I click "Fast (5 minutes)". An alert pops up on the screen.

_This shower's built in aromatherapy sequence will not be nearly as successful if you shower in under five minutes. Are you sure you want to continue?_

Aromatherapy? I hit "YES" and quickly shower before picking something random from the closet and putting it on. It's not like I'm going to be in it for more than forty minutes before Jayde makes me change into my clothes for the shoot.

I slip on shoes and sprint out to the kitchen where Nikhila is putting her dishes in the sink.

8:55.

I grab a protein shake from the fridge and scowl at it. "I was going to cook breakfast today."

"You can cook?" Nikhila asks from behind me, sounding slightly surprised.

"I had no choice. My mom worked constantly so a lot of times I was on my own for dinner. Our microwave was a piece of crap, and we could never afford those quicky instant meals except for ramen noodles, and our microwave wasn't powerful enough to make water boil. I didn't want to eat ramen all the time anyway, so I was forced to learn how to cook my own food, from scratch usually because anything prepared was more expensive."

"Oh. That makes sense. Are you ready to go?"

"Yep."

I tell the lights to shut off and we head downstairs.

**...**

"You could have cooked breakfast," Nikhila says bitterly next to me.

"I know. I've finally gotten the wires off my teeth, I have a fully stocked kitchen, and I have a protein shake for breakfast so that I can be ready for this god-forsaken rehearsal. Then I'm sitting here for an hour. This is unfortunate."

Lallie told us to be downstairs in the studio by nine for a dress rehearsal, but now it's ten and although we briefly saw Jayde she didn't know what was going on any more than we do.

I change the subject.

"You're birthday's on Wednesday, isn't it?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Since we'll be in Four will you want to stop home?"

"Umm…I probably should but…"

"But you don't really want to?"

"Yeah, I guess. I'm the oldest of eight kids so it's always a bit…chaotic at home."

"_Eight_?" I ask. Holy crap.

"Yeah. There's me; Tyler, who's thirteen; Grace, who's nine; Canson, who's seven; Cristale, who's five; and then the triplets, Kasey, Clifton, and Karman, who are all two and a half."

Holy crap.

"My dad's always working to support ten of us, and the triplets keep my mom busy, so looking after Grace, Canson, and Cristale usually falls on Tyler and I."

Dear God. "You live on the West Side right?"

"Yeah, Zone Five, Western District. It's a decent sized house; four bedrooms, although they're small, and three baths. I share a room with Grace and Cristale, Tyler and Canson share a room, the triplets share a room, and then my parents have a room."

Each district is divided into nine postal zones, but depending on the district there are also different sections. Our nine zones are Victor's Village, Orsinia (the Training Center), the North side, the Northwestern district, the Western district, the Southeastern district, the Northeastern district, the Waterfront district, and the Commercial district. Each one starts with "4" and then a number 1-9 is added to get the code used in our addresses. Western district is 45. The sections are just East Side, West Side, North Side, Victor's Village, and Orsinia.

"So you're usually in a room with two other people."

"Yeah, two girls nine and five. The last week or so I've been in heaven."

I shake my head. "I've been an only child since eight, and even before that my sister was nine years older than me. I'm not sure that I could deal with that many kids."

I don't have much experience with young kids to even know how I feel about them. I'm an only child, and the secondary education system that included training—a good seventy-five percent of my life pre-Games—started at twelve. It came up every once in awhile at work, but for the most part I haven't dealt with kids since I _was_ a kid. I've always felt more comfortable with people older than me anyway.

"I don't know anything different; I've pretty much decided that it is what it is and I try to make the best of it. Tyler's surprisingly mature for his age, probably out of necessity, so he's the one I go to when it gets to be too much, and he's always ready to listen. I couldn't do it without him, but the two of us support each other and try to work with the little ones and it...works."

"It _works_." That's the same thing I would say now about being a victor. It works. Implying that although there's nothing _wrong_, I'm not particularly happy. It's not ideal.

She sighs. "After Lallie did that assembly I went home with that form and before I even approached my parents I went to Tyler and he was awesome about it. He refused to let me feel guilty about wanting to do it. Then I had to go to my mom, because at the end of the day my thirteen year old brother couldn't sign the form even if he was the only one I felt like had to get permission from. My relationship with my mom is...strained. I get frustrated with her because she devotes every single second of her time to the triplets, and it's up to Tyler and I to make sure that everyone else eats, gets their school work done, etc. I mean, the day when I was packing up to come here Cristale, the five year old, called me mom. I flipped out on her, because I don't want her thinking of me as mom, I don't want that responsibility, and she got super upset. She told me that a mom is the person who makes you dinner, and helps you with your clothes in the morning, tucks you in at night…and I'm the one who does all that. She said our real mom didn't do that, so who was her mom if it wasn't me? I felt horrible, even after Tyler was able to get her to calm down, and so then I got really mad at my mom. When I confronted her about it she just said that the triplets needed her more so Cristale would have to get over it. Cristale's _five_. She needs a mother, and I can't do that for her. I'm being forced to, but I can't. Anyway, my mom only signed the paper when she read the part about financial compensation. That's frustrating, that I can't do something exciting and fun that requires me to be away unless my mom thinks she'll get paid for it."

"The check will be in your name. And since your sixteen you can keep it if you want, right?"

"Legally, yes, because I'm sixteen I can do whatever I want with my money**[4]**, but do you honestly think that I'm going to tell my mom no? I mean, I'd _love_ to, but the crap I'd have to go through wouldn't be worth it. Depending on how much it is, I'll probably give her half and that'll be that."

I nod. It make sense, sometimes it's just not worth it.

We both hear the elevator ding and turn to see Lallie walking in.

"Oh God guys, I'm so sorry. My CGI technician decided to go on vacation this week even though we planned this months ago, which means that we'll have to shoot the TV ad in Four, so it's good we had already planned to practice today."

What?

"We're going to _freeze_," Nikhila says.

Oh my God, we are. It doesn't get as cold in Four as it does here, but it'll probably be around forty something degrees, and then we'll be soaked from the rain. For the TV ad I'm shirtless in khaki shorts and flip flops, and poor Nikhila's in a bikini and stripper heels.

"No, that's why I was out. I was buying supplies for the TV ad, including this."

She pulls a bottle out of one of her bags labeled "LiquiCoat."

"LiquiCoat?"

"Yeah. For the TV ad day if you both put it on any of your exposed skin it'll keep you warm. And it's waterproof. Probably not enough to swim in it, but getting rained on shouldn't be too much of a problem."

Capitol technology. It figures. The insane things they wear all year round would probably require it since it actually gets cold here.

"Oh, okay. What are we doing?"

"I've got to grab a couple things from the photography studio and then we're walking over to the big studio for the rehearsal. Where's Jayde?"

"Uhh…she came in looking for you at 9:15 and then left again."

Lallie sighs and pulls out her phone.

"Jayde?…Yeah, I'm down in the studio now with Finnick and Nikhila…Karylin is on vacation so we have to shoot TV in Four…I did! She decided to go anyway…No! That's why I'm p*ssed off about it…I looked, I can't get one with this little notice…I know, you think I'm not upset about it?…Yeah, can you come help me pack up, and then we can walk over…Yes…Awesome…Thanks, bye."

She turns to Nikhila and I.

"She's going to come down in a second because she has this special way that she packs your clothes and I don't want to screw it up. We have a full hair and makeup bar there with the all the stuff we have here. Also, Nikhila, I'm going to have to do your nails at some point…we'll see about that."

Nikhila nods as Jayde walks in.

"Hey guys. We're doing a full dress rehearsal of the photo ads and the TV ads now, right?"

"Unfortunately," Lallie deadpans.

"Okay, so that means I need to bring _everything_, sh*t, I haven't even done alterations on that bikini yet, since we hadn't planned to do that until several days after the Four shoot."

Lallie sighs. "I swear if I could talk to her right now…"

"You didn't talk to her?" Jayde asks indignantly.

"No! I got an automatic reply from her email that she was going to be out until Christmas, she hasn't responded to the frantic voicemail I left her. She's at that one lodge up in the mountains by the ice cream factory."

"Oh, I know the one you're talking about. Ugh. So unprofessional. You don't make a commitment in September and then break it because you decided you want to go on freaking vacation."

Lallie shakes her head. "I know, but at the end of the day what can we do about it? It sucks that we'll have to shoot in Four because we're not prepared for that _at all_, but oh well."

Jayde nods. "I need to get packing because we only have the studio until…seventeen o'clock?"

"Yeah, so we need to hurry. Both of you need to go change, especially you Finnick, because although this is a no-press zone there are still regular people with regular cameras who will probably take pictures."

Well then. Apparently my super fancy Capitol sweatpants are still not good enough to wear out. _I_ thought they were fine, but it's a plainly known fact that I take advantage of the fact that I look good in pretty much anything.

"Why can't we just have the clothes that we need to for the first shoot and then walk over in them? Jayde wouldn't have to pack them, we'd save time there because we wouldn't have to change there, and we wouldn't have to waste an outfit from our closets."

Lallie shakes her head. "You don't want to be out on the street in those clothes; they should be new and interesting when people see them in your promotional. Now after we release everything then you might wear them again, but not before. And don't worry about 'waste' it's not like there's much of a shortage here like you might have at home. I've dressed both of you enough that you should know the kind of stuff I would pick, so go get changed, and hurry."

I scowl at her but trudge over to the elevator with Nikhila behind me.

"I have no clue what she'd put me in," Nikhila says as the doors slide shut in front of us. "I haven't left this building since I got here, and then I was in my own clothes."

"I can help you look for something if you want. I've actually only been out twice, but I still think I know what she'd want."

It's actually kind of shocking to realize that I've only left this building twice in fifteen days. Since I live here and work here though, so there's no real reason to leave. I have a balcony if I want fresh air, and the penthouse is so big that I can go work in a different room and feel like I've left and gone somewhere completely different.

"That'd be good, thanks."

I nod as the elevator opens and we walk back into our apartment.

"Let me change and then I'll be in in a second."

"Got it," she replies.

My phone vibrates in my pocket and I pull it out to find a text message from Lallie.

**Wear sunglasses, and tell Nikhila the same.** **I think you still have my Ray-Ban's.**

I reply with "**Fine. And yes.**" before going to my closet.

Dark seems to be the theme lately with the black jeans and combat boots for the mall trip.

I'm tired of that stuff though.

Compromise.

I end up picking a pair of dark wash jeans, black sneakers, a button down red shirt, a fleece jacket (it looks cold outside although I have no clue if it actually is), and the sunglasses. I walk to the mirror and run and hand through my hair before walking over to Nikhila's room and knocking on her door. If Lallie wants better than that she'll have to do it herself.

"Come in!" Nikhila calls, and I open the door. She has several dresses laid out on her bed and is furiously tapping the screen on the closet.

"How's it going?"

"Okay. I need help choosing between these dresses, but I already know which jacket I want, and everything else is pretty easy after that."

"Got it."

I go take a look at said dresses. The first is floor length and made out of silky material with a blue floral print. The second would probably hit just above the knee and is black with lace sleeves. The third is really short with a corset top and fluffy skirt.

"Definitely not the third one. Honestly it's kind of slutty," I say bluntly.

"Yeah, that's what I thought too. It's kind of slutty for me to be prancing around in a bikini and itty-bitty heels making out with you in the TV ad too, which is why I picked it out anyway. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be going with the same kind of thing."

Okay, she has a valid point. I'm trying not to think about that part though.

"True. I'm going closer to the first still ad, obviously, since I'm pretty much wearing the same thing in different colors."

She nods. "I'm liking the second one, what do you think? The maxi dress is very District 4, whereas the lace one seems better for here."

I shrug. "I like them both."

She sighs. "You are so useless in fashion decisions, Finnick."

"Fine, I'll have an opinion! I like the second one more because you're right, it's lacy so it's all mysterious and sexy and whatever and that goes with this more."

She nods. "Cool. I'm going to go change in the bathroom that's bigger than my bedroom at home, make yourself comfortable or whatever."

I take a seat on the edge of her bed as she disappears into the bathroom. She reappears rather quickly and goes back to the closet.

"Now for shoes. I'm already wearing a really nice dress, so I'm probably going to wear normal people shoes. Like sneakers."

"Go for it."

She pulls out a pair of red high tops followed by a red plaid tote bag, a necklace, and a ring. Her wallet and a whole bunch of other stuff goes in the bag.

"Oh, I was supposed to tell you to bring sunglasses."

"Sunglasses? It's cloudy outside and cold."

"She probably can't be bothered to give us Contact Drops so we are going to do it the old fashioned way and just wear sunglasses."

Nikhila makes a noise that's some kind of cross between a sigh and a snort but turns back to the closet and retrieves a pair of bright red sunglasses identical to mine.

"Anything else?"

"No."

"Good. I need to put makeup on really quickly, and then we can leave."

Oh my God. Women.

Something in my body language must tell her what I'm thinking because she says, "Hey, don't be upset with me. I wasn't going to do any of this crap but Lallie wanted it, so I am. I can't put something like this on and then wear no makeup."

"Yeah, I _know_," I say tiredly.

I watch as she carefully applies foundation, concealer, eyeliner, and lipstick. It's actually kind of weird to see her without a full face of makeup. I mean, seeing her with no makeup is one thing, but this is like, half makeup.

"We good?"

"Can I comb my hair?"

I sigh. This is the problem with making a girl get ready. I can go, throw some clothes on, and walk out the door. Nikhila has to pick out the clothes, put on the clothes, do her hair, put on makeup…

Luckily she does it quickly, and then we are out the door.

As we walk into the studio Lallie gives us both a critical stare before nodding.

"Good."

Jayde smiles at Nikhila. "That's cute."

"Thanks," she replies drily.

"Are we ready to go?" Lallie asks.

"Yes."

"Let's go."

I take a deep breath. Let's do this.

1

2

3

4

**...**

**FOOTNOTES:**

**1. I think I did the pythagorean theorem right to get 600, but school let out in early June and I haven't done any math higher than the proportion since then, so…yeah, I tried.**

**Remember him. That jerk who Irlissa thought would have volunteered for Finnick? Who has always hated Finnick and probably always will? That guy. Part I Chapter 2 if you want to go reread or whatever.**

**I'm not meaning this as a religious thing, because I don't put religion in Panem. I know plenty of atheists who say that**

**4. I've decided that 16 is the age of majority in Panem. I know in Twelve they don't go to the mines until 18, but Finnick becomes legal and 16, and I don't think that would happen with a legal minor. I know that the Capitol is cruel, but even the wayward conscience of Capitol-ites probably wouldn't be for forced prostitution of a minor. That would make them all pedophiles like Aliss. -_-**

**...**

**A/N: I make Irlissa such an idiot :O And Finnick was super...ticked off. I think of it like a month and a half's worth of confusion, anger, and heart break exploding out. You guys know that whenever I use the "GD word" it's serious.**

**Please review, I really appreciate the feedback!**

**-cindella204**


	31. Part II Chapter 10

**SHOUT OUTS:**

**Shout outs to _The Ice Within_, _shieldmaiden19_, and _The Fancy Unicorn_ for reviewing the last chapter.**

**Shout out to PurpleBoo also who has just discovered WLBAG and has reviewed eight chapters so far.**

**...**

**DISCLAIMER:**

**There are several concepts, characters, and real life things that I use and/or mention in this chapter that I don't own. These include but are not limited to the Hunger Games, Finnick Odair, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere, Adobe After Effects (AE), Adobe Creative Suite (CS), and the Clone tool**

**...**

**A/N: Camp NaNoWriMo is over. That was why I hadn't updated all August. I was doing really well and then life happened and didn't end with a very good word count, but I have several chapters finished that I'll be posting soon.**

**A little disappointed by reviews on nine. That tied for my lowest review count on any chapter, and the last time it was this low was Part 1 Chapter 4. Then I had no story or author followers. Now I have sixteen author followers and forty-four story alerts. What gives guys? I'm not a review hostager, this is actually the longest chapter of this story so far, but please review. I don't write for you all, but I do post it online for you all, and I count how many people read not by hits but reviews. Hits are just people who clicked on it. Reviewers actually read.**

**Thanks.**

**...**

**IN THIS CHAPTER: **Strong adult language, mild sexual themes

**...**

**CHAPTER 10**

**December 17**

"Finnick, good to see you again."

I smile at my mom and embrace her in a quick hug.

"Good to see you too. How's it been going?"

"Good, good, although it's been a bit boring. It's sad when I'm looking forward to having the twelve year olds in survival just because I need some excitement in my life."

I snort. "Lallie wanted to know if you are ready to assign rooms or whatever before she brought everyone in."

Our house is being converted into a hotel because there aren't really any hotels in Four, and this is really close to where we are shooting. We have sixteen bedrooms all together, so we can fit the four of us and then all of the tech people.

"Yeah, she sent me names so I've just given everyone a room. I've enabled the locks to be activated by fingerprints. And I'm calling you, Lallie, and Jayde last because I'd rather not be standing here with a whole bunch of Capitol people I don't know."

"I actually don't know any of them either, but okay."

I text Lallie.

**We're ready.**

Here we go. Lallie enters seconds later with Jayde, Nikhila, and her entourage of crew.

"Alright everyone, this is Finnick's mom, Nataly Odair," Lallie says.

"Hi, welcome to District Four. Please make yourself at home while you're here. All of you have a bedroom on the third or fourth floor. The locks are set to fingerprints so you'll have to program that the first time you go in and then you're set. Lallie gave me a list you of rooms you needed and asked me to assign them, so on the third floor, which is just one flight up, rooms one and two are your dressing rooms. Tislee will be in room three, four is the tech room, Leeza is in room five, Marse is in six, Ponte is in seven, and Dazel is in eight. On the fourth floor Finnick is in one, I'm in two, Lallie's in three, Nikhila's in four, Blase is in five, Jayde's in six, Arlin's in seven, and Kasside is in eight. Rooms one and two on both floors have bathrooms en-suite, and then there are two separate bathrooms on each floor. If you need anything just use the paging system on the computers in each room."

I can't help but smile at my mom. I'm not sure what Lallie said to her to convince her to do this, but she seems to really be taking it in stride, which is good.

She get's a handful of nods, "okay"'s, and even one "Thanks", but it's almost two o'clock in the morning and we're all exhausted.

She turns to Lallie. "What time do you want me to have breakfast ready tomorrow?"

"Umm…is nine o'clock okay? I don't want to mess up your schedule any more then we already are by having you up right now."

"No, nine's fine. I work from noon to seventeen-thirty, but other than that I'm home, and Finnick can get you in during that time if you need anything."

"Okay, thank you so much. Here's the deal for tomorrow morning, everyone needs to be downstairs for breakfast at nine. You will have to share bathrooms, so talk to the two people you're sharing with and figure out who's going to shower when. If you need to you can use the bathrooms in the dressing rooms as well. Breakfast is a nine, at nine thirty we need to start prepping to head out. That means tech people you need to unpack your stuff and get set up, and then Finnick and Nikhila you two will be getting prepped. Jayde, I'm not sure if I'll need you or if I'll put you in prep, we'll see. At ten-fifteen we'll be heading over to the mainland for the first shoot. Any questions?"

None of us can be bothered to respond.

"I'll take that as a no, go get some sleep and I'll see you guys at nine."

My mom stops Jayde to ask her a question, but the rest of us trudge upstairs and go to our rooms.

It's good to be home.

I set an alarm for eighty-thirty and go to bed.

**...**

**Later**

I wake up to someone knocking on the door and roll over to see the clock.

Seven. Why am I being woken up at seven?

Everyone else on this floor is asleep so I actually go to the door and open it.

Except Jayde. In no makeup, which is _weird_.

I open the door for her to come in and turn on the lights.

"What's up?"

"First of all, I am so, so sorry that I had to wake you up. You're the only one I know will be able to help me though."

"What do you need?"

She sighs. "I frantically packed at about midnight today, and although I managed to get all the stuff for the sewing machine I didn't bring my hand sewing kit. The hem is starting to drop on Nikhila's dress for today and it needs to be fixed before nine-thirty so she can get ready. Do you know where I could buy a needle and thread here?"

I nod, stifling a yawn. "Fifteen minutes for me to shower and get ready?"

"Yeah, that's fine, I'll be downstairs."

I take a quick shower and throw on a t-shirt, jeans, and the same fleece jacket I was wearing yesterday before running downstairs.

Jayde's sitting in the kitchen drawing.

"You set?" I ask from behind her.

She jumps. "Oh God, Finnick, do you not make any noise when you walk?"

"When everyone else in the house is asleep? No, I don't."

"Okay, point. Let's go."

I grab my keys from our "random crap we need" drawer and open the door.

It's pouring outside. D*mmit.

I'm not sure how they knew it was going to be storming today when they planned this months ago, but it most certainly is. I've ridden the jet-ski in bad weather before, but it's not exactly something I enjoy.

I turn to Jayde. "We are going to get absolutely soaked. Do you have a waterproof jacket?"

"No. That's another thing I would have packed if I was thinking, but didn't."

"Don't worry about it, I'll get you one. Be right back."

This is the one time when I'd rather have a boat. The jet-ski's really nice and a lot easier to handle, but a boat wouldn't require me to put on a wetsuit to go out in a storm.

I run upstairs, change into a waterproof wetsuit, and then put on a pair of random shorts and a jacket over it. I don't care if the clothes get wet, it's just _I_ don't want to get wet because then I'll have to shower. Again.

Once I finish I tiptoe into my mom's room and go to her closet. Jayde's a decent bit shorter than my mom, but otherwise they're bodies are built mostly the same, and even if they weren't that's the best I've got. I grab a wetsuit, cloth capris, and another jacket (all in black) and bring them to Jayde.

"Waterproof wetsuit, capris, and a jacket," I explain as I hand them to her. "Otherwise you're going to have to shower and start all over again once you get back in."

She nods and goes to the bathroom and change.

I'm hoping to dock in the Commercial District and go straight to the little home goods market that a couple of my mom's friends run. They're not always open though, and if not then I'm going to have to walk over to the real market and find sewing supplies, because that one is huge and I don't have the first clue where I'd find stuff like that.

Jayde comes up behind me, and I bite my lip to keep from laughing. As expected the suit is too long and bunches at her ankles, but otherwise it all fits. It's just seeing her with no makeup on and Four clothes makes her look like one of our twelve year olds about to go to Training.

"You set?"

"Do you guys have your own currency here?"

"Yes, but we take Capitol money too. I use it all the time, the rate is two-to-one."

"Got it. Let's go."

I flip the hood up on my jacket and walk out the door.

It's _bad._ It always gets really windy here when we have storms, but we probably haven't had one this bad since before I won which is odd, because we don't usually get these kind of thunderstorms in the winter. This is a summer thing. It's December, so it's _freezing_. Forget tomorrow, I'm going to freeze today. Unless I can keep the wetsuit on under my clothes. Probably not, it wouldn't have the same effect once my clothes get soaked through if I have a full suit under them.

We speed walk to the docks and board my soaked jet-ski. Of course it didn't occur to me to put the cover on before I left.

"You're going to want to hold onto me not your handhold because everything is soaked," I say without turning around. I feel her hesitantly wrap her hands around my stomach and I turn the key.

Another disadvantage to the jet-ski. It can be awkward at times.

The water is…not as bad as I'd expect it to be, but it's still rough. Jayde's good about it though, she knows when and how to lean to make this as easy as possible. There's nothing worse than riding with a passenger who refuses to move and is holding onto you. Then you can't either, and that makes it hard to drive.

I drive way too fast considering the weather and quickly dock the jet ski. I want to go, get her stuff, and leave. It's really, _really_ cold.

I turn to Jayde. "So there's a little home goods market right down here that some of my mom's friends run. If it's open that'll be your best option, but if not we'll have to go over to the big market and ask around because I have no clue where to get that stuff there."

She nods.

In District Four it doesn't exactly get muddy because our soil is so sandy, but trudging through wet sand isn't exactly pleasant either. District Four's market used to be right here, it's a lot more convenient of a location, but this building got too small. Then they moved to where they are now, on the other side of the Commercial District, and this building sat unused for two years until a couple moms got together, got a business license, and started this.

I open the door and I'm ambushed by a sixty-something woman who's been like a grandmother to me all my life.

"Hey Leaya," I say weakly once I can breathe again. She gives these crazy crushing hugs that are honestly a bit of a health hazard.

"Long time no see, Finnick! I didn't know you were back in town already."

"Just for two days and then I'm going back out again until the second week of January. Speaking of that, this is Jayde," I say motioning for her to come out of the corner by the door that she's hiding in.

"Jayde? Like your stylist in the Games?"

I nod.

"Oh, okay. Wow, you just, uhh—"

Jayde chuckles. "I know. Between the wetsuit and lack of makeup I didn't recognize myself in the mirror this morning either."

Leaya smiles. "How can I help you sweetie?"

"I left my hand sewing kit at home and I just need to mend a dropped hem."

I still have no clue what that means even though this is the second time I've heard it, but Leaya nods and leads Jayde to a table in the back covered in sewing supplies. They have a discussion full of jargon I don't understand on thread types or something before Jayde chooses something and pays for it.

"Thank you so much," Jayde says as Leaya finishes packing up her stuff and hands her her bag.

"No problem sweetie, if there's _anything_ else you need just let me know. Finnick knows how to get a hold of me."

"Of course, thank you again." With one more smile we are heading back to the docks.

"She's nice."

"Yeah, family friend. We've known her forever."

She nods. "Cool."

We fall into a comfortable silence as we walk back to the jet-ski. I pop the top on the storage chamber for Jayde and reach into my pocket for my keys. As soon as I feel her lean forward I turn the key and speed off.

The rain's gotten worse and I'm just trying to get us home as soon as possible.

When we dock I make a point to actually cover the jet-ski (I keep the cover in the storage chamber) before we hurry back to the house. I press my finger to the sensor for the lock and impatiently wait for it to verify. Come on, come on, come on. The doorknob flashes green and I twist it open.

Home.

"Thanks so much, Finnick. Seriously."

"No problem."

"No, it _was_ a problem, and thank you. I need to go fix this dress, so I'll see you at breakfast. What do you want me to do with the clothes?"

"Just drop them in the hamper in your room."

She nods. "Thanks again."

I grab something to drink from the fridge before I follow her upstairs. I need to at least change out of the wetsuit into normal people clothes. When I finish that it's eight o'clock. What to do for the next hour…

I turn on my computer and open up my design software without any clue what I'm doing. All the STORM stuff got sent to my computer at some point, and I end up with a sticker. Eight fifteen. And a tote bag. Eight thirty. And a t-shirt. Who the h*ll would buy a STORM t-shirt? At that point it's eight forty-five so I give up and head down to the kitchen where my mother is running around cooking.

"Need help with anything?"

"Can you do the pomegranates?"

"Do the pomegranates?" I do not know how a pomegranate is "done".

She sighs. "Cut them in half, scoop the seeds out, rinse them in water, and put them in a bowl so they look pretty."

"Got it." I grab a knife and cutting board and get to work. Time slips by, and people start to trickle into the kitchen. At nine o'clock all twelve of us are present, as promised.

Lallie reigns in everyone's attention (I'm not sure how) and gets us standing in something resembling a circle. "Since you don't all know each other, we're going to go around the circle and state our names and roles in this project. I'll start, and Jayde will finish."

Oh Lord, introduction games.

"I'm Lallie Renshaw and I'm the director."

"I'm Nikhila Perez, and I'm one of the models."

My turn. "Finnick Odair, model."

My mom's next to me and I give her a look. "Oh, I get a turn? Umm, okay, Nataly Odair. And I guess I'm in charge of lodging."

I nod.

"I'm Arlin Grale, and I'm the videographer." And here go the Capitol people. The real Capitol people, not the ones like Lallie and Jayde. This one has awkward orange skin and a voice that sounds like a dying cat.

"Kasside Lister specializing in Still Photography."

"Tislee Chambers, I'll be filming the Behind the Scenes footage."

Behind the scenes? So someone will film me getting filmed?

"Leeza Crask. I'm the lighting tech." She seems like she's been high since we left. Her speech is just a tad slurred and her eyes are rimmed in red.

I guess she could just be hungover.

"Ponte Quintay, sound tech." He's sounds like a pretentious freak.

Stay _away_ from the techs.

"Marse Lanzei, wardrobe assistant."

"Dazel Mort, wardrobe assistant."

"And I'm Jayde Papillon, first AD and Head of Wardrobe."

Lallie nods. "Cool, so we all have at least been introduced to each other now. Everyone go eat, and then we start prepping at nine-thirty."

As the group begins to disperse I hear Lallie calling my name.

"Finnick, Nikhila, and Tislee, can you guys come here for a second?"

We all gather around her. "I didn't even mention behind the scenes earlier, but basically Tislee's going to be walking around with a camera just filming what's going on. You might get some mini-interviews. Nothing particularly important, just 'Hey Finnick, what's going on?' And then you could be like, 'This is Day One and I'm in wardrobe getting prepped for the shoot. Today we're doing all the still shoots for posters and other promotional gear.' Or something like that. Just wing it. This will be turned into a video file that will be part of a STORM Deluxe package that we're putting together. Anyone who pre-orders it or buys it the first day, the twenty-third, is entered in a drawing to attend a signing with you two on the twenty-fourth."

"Signing? As in meeting insane fangirls signing?"

Lallie sighs. "I've met a lot of your fans because the recognize me and want me to get you to sign stuff. They're not all insane fangirls…just most of them."

"Oh. Thank you for that, Lallie," I say sarcastically.

I hear a chuckle and turn to see an extremely amused Nikhila trying not to laugh.

"Shut up, Nikhila."

"Sorry…"

Lallie shakes her head. "Go eat; you of all people can't be late for prep."

Eating solid food is still a super amazing thing.

At nine thirty exactly (I'm pretty sure Lallie has a watch that is to the second) Nikhila and I are ushered into prep. One of the wardrobe assistants hands me a dry cleaning bag and a tote bag.

"Go change in the other dressing room and then come find me in the tech room when you're done."

I nod and take my stuff. Jayde and I planned all of this together but I never actually saw the final products.

I have a blue flannel shirt with a hood, dark wash jeans, combats boots, and weird leather bracelet with blue stripes. They've included _everything_, down to socks and underwear. I change and walk to the tech room. My mom has put up a sign on each door with the number and assignment. The same wardrobe assistant is talking to Jayde in the corner. They start walking over when they see me.

Jayde looks me over and smiles. "Looks good. Let's go to hair and makeup."

"I get that the makeup is waterproof, but why are you doing my hair so that I can get absolutely soaked?"

"Because I need to dye you back to natural. That's the reason why Lallie insisted on forty-five minutes of prep, your hair needs to set."

"Oh my _God_." I'm used to the dark, it was dyed Post-Games and then I only had it natural for a few days before it went back to dark again. Now I have to dye my hair lighter. Again.

"Oh stop whining, Finnick."

Nikhila walks in with assistant number two.

She looks _gorgeous_.

Jayde got the dress exactly right, and it's paired with a necklace and earrings that are both ruby with diamond accents. The shoes are just a simple pair of black wedges, and through the semi-translucent fabric of the dress I can see the ghost of a lacy bra. Somehow it doesn't look as slutty as you'd expect.

I smile at her. "Looks great."

She blushes. "Thanks. It's…a lot, but I like it."

Jayde reenters the room (I never actually saw her leave) with what I recognize as my mixed hair dye.

"I need to hurry up or this will still be running when you go outside. Take the shirt off, it has a hood and I don't want to get dye on it."

I unbutton the flannel and shove it into my lap, and Jayde starts applying the dye to my hair while one of the assistant paints Nikhila's nails and the other does her hair.

The door opens and Tislee walks in with an industrial sized camera.

"What's going on in here?"

I guess this is where the talking part comes in.

"We are getting prepped for Day One of the shoot, which is the stills. Jayde's dying my hair back it's natural color instead of the dark brown."

She turns the focus of the camera to Nikhila.

"Nikhila?"

"Getting my nails painted and getting the hair done. I'm not sure what either are supposed to look like, so this will be interesting, I guess."

"Princess," I mutter under my breath.

"Did you just call me a _princess_, Odair?"

"You kind of look like one. You're sitting there in this fancy dress looking all gorgeous and getting your nails and hair done."

"You do not call me _princess_, Finnick. Ever. Do you understand?"

I make eye contact with Jayde through the mirror and she that she's trying not to laugh. Mind as well milk this one for the cameras.

"And an attitude like one too," I say, quite loud enough for Nikhila to hear.

"Finnick, you better watch your back during the shoot today."

"What are you going to do during the shoot?"

"I don't know, bite you when we're kissing or something."

Oh _God._ "Bite me? You're not a princess anymore. Princesses don't bite. And save that for your video ad, then you can do all the biting you want."

Although we'll both be in all three TV ads, there's one with the focus on me, one with the focus on Nikhila, and one that's shared. Apparently the guys and girls lines need their own commercials.

Nikhila gives me a look, and I smirk back at her.

"Finnick, would you stop moving please? I know fussing with Nikhila isn't the same when you can't look at her, but I can't afford to screw this up."

"Killjoy."

"Great band. 1"

"_What_?"

"Never mind."

Umm…okay.

Tislee leaves to go talk to Lallie about her artistic vision and I can finally relax. I'm good at being in front of cameras but I don't necessarily enjoy it. I feel like whenever there's a camera I have to start acting.

Just because something's easy doesn't mean it's enjoyable.

Jayde finishes up with my hair and then goes to work on Nikhila while it sets.

They first assistant, Dazel, has finished her hair and is now working on her toenails. Jayde starts digging through bags until she finds a makeup kit bigger than my computer. Nikhila shoots me a worried look as Jayde opens the kit and starts looking for foundation and concealer to match her skin tone.

I shake my head at Nikhila. "Don't."

"Don't what?"

"Get all nervous. Jayde's awesome at what she does and she's not going to do anything that you don't want or that doesn't look good."

Jayde raises an eyebrow at that, no doubt thinking about the Interview Eyeliner incident, but I momentarily ignore her.

This isn't about her.

Nikhila lets out a shuddering breath and squeezes her eyes shut. Jayde, who was in the middle of putting her foundation stops and steps back, glancing upward to make eye contact with me.

"I'll be okay in a second," she bites out. "I'm flipping out about nothing, I just need a second…"

She takes another deep breath and opens her eyes again. "I'm good now. Sorry."

Jayde shakes her head and resumes with the foundation.

For me this is all very mild. Once you enter the Hunger Games world nothing quite compares after that. For her this is huge. There are three ways a district citizen can get out of their district. Actually, four. You can compete in the Games, become a Peacekeeper, sneak out, or do something worthy of them turning you into an avox. She has done none of the above, and she got to visit the Capitol anyway. She's part of a project for Capitol citizens, and Lallie briefly mentioned some press thing that would be broadcasted nationwide, possibly on mandatory viewing.

She'd become a household name. Without winning the Games or becoming an avox.

This is life shattering. This _doesn't happen_.

I don't blame her for being absolutely overwhelmed by it.

I watch as Jayde finishes the foundation and then adds concealer, navy blue eyeliner, dark blue and purple eyeshadow, and black mascara.

Jayde spins the chair toward me. "What do you think?"

"It looks awesome." It really does. I had nothing to do with the makeup design; I told Jayde that I wanted the color of STORM and District Four and that it should say "effortlessly sexy". She designed this.

And it's f—ing perfect.

Jayde smiles and puts something on her lips that works a lot like eyeliner (lip liner?), lipstick, and a shiny gloss on top.

"You're done, go ahead and look at it. Actually, you're not but you can still look in the mirror. I'll be right back."

I turn to Nikhila as Jayde slips out the door.

"You look beautiful. Seriously."

She blushes. "Thanks. This whole thing is kind of surreal in a really weird way, I mean, I'm not usually one to be dressed this nice. I've tried to look semi-decent in front of you guys, but at home it's pretty much foundation, eyeliner, and lip gloss only, and with athletic clothes since I usually wear my training clothes all day unless there is something special going on. I know how to look nice, you saw that in the shoot I did to apply for this, but I don't get around to doing it much."

I nod. She probably doesn't have the time.

"Do you work?"

"A bit. Just on the weekends, because after school and training I don't really have the energy to do anything else, and even if I did I have to be home to help Tyler with the kids."

For some reason that makes me feel like a jack*ss. Nikhila is in Second. Ed. which keeps her occupied from eight to seventeen o'clock Monday-Saturday, and then she is essentially a parent of three and a half kids (her brother seems to be at least partially responsible for himself) and works weekends behind that. Meanwhile I sit at home on my *ss doing nothing because they don't want to put me into the Training Center until next semester and my talent isn't something I can just do at home.

"God, is there anything you _don't_ do?"

"I don't do all the fun stuff that people my age are supposed to be doing," she points out bitterly. "These upper teenage years are supposed to be the time of your life. What a joke. There's times when I'm actually jealous of the fourteen and fifteen year olds I train with because they actually have lives, which is something I haven't had since the triplets were born. There was one girl who always had stories about her amazing boyfriend and all the things they did together, what was her name, Irlissa maybe—?

Nikhila knows Irlissa? The flashback nightmare from two nights ago comes rushing back to mind. I shove that back down. I can't think about that right now. Can't.

"Irlissa?" I clear my throat dramatically at the end in a bad attempt to cover the fact that my voice cracked on the one word.

"Yeah. You knew her?"

"Ex-girlfriend."

Her eyes widen as she puts this together. "So _you're_ the oh-so-amazing boyfriend she was always talking about?"

"The one and only," I sarcastically. "That I knew of, anyway."

Okay, so that might have been unnecessary. Irlissa might have a lot of issues, but being a complete slut is not one of them, and there's no way she was cheating on me.

"I'm assuming that the Games screwed things up?"

"Yeah."

She nods. "Sorry about that, by the way. It is what it is, and I know being a b*tch to you won't change anything, but sometimes I can't help it. Because of my role in my family I naturally bottle things up until I can't take it anymore and I explode on the nearest person who'll listen. Usually that person is Tyler. Today it happened to be you."

"No, you're fine." For some reason I don't mind listening to her.

Jayde walks back in with a bottle of dark teal contact drops.

"Sorry that took so long. For some reason Lallie decided to pack these with her own contact drops in her toiletry bag, but I can't really talk since she at least brought everything she needs."

She hands the bottle to Nikhila and turns to me.

"Lallie said you didn't need them?"

"No. I can sort of do it naturally, which is really weird, but she said that would be better because then it could be gradual."

"Really? That's actually kind of cool…anyway, Nikhila. I find that this is a lot easier if you do it yourself, so you just need to tilt your head back, do four drops in each eye, and then blink about fifteen times before you bring your head back up, and you're set. You'll take them out like a contact."

Nikhila nods and carefully puts them in turning to the mirror to see what they look like with her makeup. The blue has the tiniest tinge of purple that accents the eyeshadow she's wearing.

Jayde smiles. "Perfect. Lallie's the one who orders all of these because she actually uses them, I just dyed my irises and that's that, but she's never used this color before. I think she was a bit worried about if it would look right, but it definitely does."

Nikhila nods. "I like it."

"Awesome. Finnick, I need to rinse that dye out and then you'll be done."

She drags a chair in front of the sink.

"You're sink's not a good height for this, so I'll try to work fast so you don't completely kill your neck. Lean back."

I do as she tells me and she quickly rinses out the dye.

"You know what, I'm going to blow dry this so that it's less likely to run when you go outside, one second."

She does and then sends me back to my first seat. "Put your shirt back on, I'm going to put foundation and concealer on you really quickly and they we're set."

She pulls out a tube of foundation and starts to put on my face.

"God, this is thick." It literally feels like a mask. She's always used cream foundation, but it's usually thin. This feels like it could be toothpaste.

"One hundred percent waterproof. I usually go with something water-based because you don't really sweat, but this is oil-based so it's not running off your face when your standing in the pouring rain for hours."

I sigh. "So is this what normal people in your society wear?"

"You get used to it. I wear the lightest shade of this same stuff every day and have been since I was sixteen, and I don't even feel it anymore. In fact, this morning it felt weird being out without it on."

I start to shake my head before I realize that I'm getting makeup put on so I should probably stay still.

Nikhila snorts. "Poor, Finnick. Is the waterproof foundation making you feel claustrophobic?"

"Firstly, shut up, Nikhila, and secondly, it's not making me feel claustrophobic. It's making me feel like I need to go take a shower."

"Oh, my bad," she drawls.

I roll my eyes at her as Jayde takes out the concealer and does a few quick touch ups.

"Cool. You're done."

My mom's voice comes over the intercom. "Hey everyone this is Nataly. Lallie's asking that you guys meet downstairs in the kitchen in five minutes. You don't need to bring all your stuff, she just wants to talk about what you're doing today. Thank you."

"Perfect timing. Let's go."

Nikhila is less than three centimeters shorter than me in heels, which is…weird. Usually I have seven to ten centimeters on her.

We walk downstairs to where my mom is in the kitchen turning on the dishwasher. She looks up at our footsteps and smiles.

"You both look great. Nice work, Jayde."

"Thanks," all three of us manage to say in unison.

She chuckles. "You're very welcome."

Lallie comes running down the stairs on the phone.

"Hello…Yeah, Ponte's trying to set up the individual speaker pads for the shoot and says that they need an XYD internet connection…You've gotta be f—ing kidding me…I'm in District Four! They don't have universal here…No, I don't…We're staying in Victor's Village, they have it…You don't assume things like that!…Yeah, I have wired in-ears, that's it! On the second day Finnick's shirtless and Nikhila's in a bikini, how the h*ll am I going to hide wires…No sh*t, but Finnick's back is to the camera in Nikhila's shoot and vice-versa…Yeah, but it would be a pain in the *ss and we don't exactly have time for that…Shut up, just shut up…You better be…Uh huh…bye."

Lallie hangs up and shoves her phone into the pocket of her black skinny jeans.

"What's up?" Jayde asks, looking concerned.

"We're not going to be able to use the speaker pads for the shoot because they need XYD, which Roxy decided I'd have since I had promised to email him at some point during the trip."

She rolls her eyes. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Because he's a freaking idiot, but we're going to have to use the in-ears now. Which are wired. And then Photoshop the wires out using the Clone tool and my non-existent digital painting skills."

"Oh God, that sucks. Have you even used the in-ears since we got the new CS?"

"No, that's what I'm worried about. The photoshopping will be a pain, but I know I can do as long as we tape down the wires so that they're in a good location. I don't know if the in-ears will even import correctly once I bring it into Premiere and AE 2."

I'm totally lost. I know that some technology isn't going to work so they have to use different technology that the computer might not like. That's it.

"Have you looked at songs yet?"

"No, I was planning to do it tomorrow night after the shoot or when we get home. Why?"

"I've got song ideas. Remind me to send them to you."

She nods as three of the tech members come down the stairs. One walks up to Jayde and asks, "Did you call Roxy?"

Lallie scowls. "Yeah, I did. He knew and assumed we'd have it. We're going to have to go to the in-ears. Just pin them to their clothes or whatever so they don't shake and then I'll Photoshop them out when I pull it into Premiere."

"Ugh, you've _got_ to be kidding me."

Lallie just scowls again.

"Wow. Woooooow. That _twat_."

Jayde rolls her eyes. Three more techs come downstairs. Including Tislee with the camera of death.

Okay, so maybe I'm being a bit dramatic about this whole behind-the-scenes thing. I just really hate cameras. Cameras require me to be fake, and in a way that I don't particularly like.

It's one thing to do it for your life in the Games. It's another thing to do it just for the entertainment of a bunch of Capitol teenagers.

The two wardrobe assistants come down last (which is interesting since they finished first), and Lallie starts going over what we have to do today.

"After this meeting we're going to go get packed up and take a boat down to our first filming location. We'll set up and then do the group shoots. That's going to be about a hundred shots give or take, we'll see. Then we're going to do Nikhila only. After that we need to pack up, go back to Victor's Village, and do Finnick's shoot. Any questions?"

"What time should we be back down here?" someone asks.

"In ten minutes. Everyone has stuff to get except Finnick and Nikhila, you two stay here 'cause I need to debrief you."

The crew scatters to get their supplies.

"Finnick and Nikhila." She sighs. "This is it. We've been over all of these shots, you know what's you're doing, now it's just going out there and killing it. That whole tantrum I had earlier was about getting your in-ears so I can give you instructions. It's not really that important for this shoot because it's all stills, but it's definitely easier than me trying to yell over the rain. We really get them for the video ad that way I don't have to worry about editing my voice out of the video. My point is that I'll be there giving you instructions step by step. Stay calm, let us know if you need anything, and enjoy this. I'll say that again, enjoy it."

Enjoy it? Somehow that takes me by surprise. Probably because I've been keeping emotion out of this. I'm doing what I need to do and moving on. That's not saying that I don't want to do it, I've even enjoyed it at points, but I'm not trying to enjoy it. That's how I've been living since I was reaped. H*ll, that's probably how I've been living since my since my sister died.

"Any last minute questions before we head out?"

"Can Nikhila and I take the jet-ski out?"

"If you are confident that it's safe, then yes."

"I already went out with Jayde earlier and it was fine."

"You went out with Jayde?"

"She forgot something at home and needed to go to the market."

Lallie nods. "Got it. That's fine, then. I'm going to go check on everything upstairs, meet you back here in five."

Nikhila shoots me a questioning look. I suppose she wants an explanation.

"I can't be around a whole bunch of people right before something like this. It'll psyche me out. I was just going to go alone but…I decided to bring you along with me. I have no clue why so don't ask."

She nods. "No, that's better. Thank you."

The tech crew arrives carrying all kinds of equipment. Apparently there's more of it already on the boat.

"Alright, let's head out guys. Finnick you can go ahead, we're going to Dock 47C."

I nod. "Let's go, Nikhila."

This is it.

**...**

**Later**

"Okay guys, we need an opener. Your names, what you're doing, what day it is, etc," Tislee says as she adjusts the microphone attached to her camera.

That was the crappiest prompt ever but I think I know what she wants.

"Finnick, you need to speak first. We're rolling in five, four, three, two."

"Hey, I'm Finnick Odair and you're watching the behind-the-scenes for the STORM photoshoot."

"I'm Nikhila Perez, a model from District Four. Today is our first day of shooting, and we'll be doing all still photographs."

"And cut. That was great guys. Ponte wants to see you to get you your in-ears."

She follows us as we walk over to where the sound and lighting tech are setup. We get a good five minute lecture before he'll actually give us our in-ears, and then he's gone.

"O-kaaay," Nikhila says.

Tislee starts tapping her camera screen. "Back on film in five, four, three, two…What have you got there?"

"These are our in-ears," Nikhila answers. "Because there's a lot of ambient noise here, the rain, the waves, etc., that's how we're going to communicate with our Director, Lallie Renshaw, and the rest of the crew."

I squeeze the jelly-like pieces into my ears and thread the cord back under my shirt to the pack clipped on my belt. It's small, probably one by two by two centimeters, but it digs into my skin and is ridiculously uncomfortable considering it's size.

"And cut. I'll be taking footage of them taking pictures of you from now on, but I'll probably come ask you questions occasionally, and if you just see me come chat. You really want to make it dynamic for the viewer, and make them feel like they're here. It might not have stood out earlier, but I'm the only one here with a red camera so that you always know which one is me."

I nod. Jayde's voice comes across the in-ears. "Let's get started. Finnick and Nikhila to starting positions for Day 1, Set A, Shot 1, all crew to Set A positions."

Time to start. First picture. For the Capitol.

Set A is what Nikhila I have have nicknamed the "Happy Couple Set". This is the only one where we're supposed to smile.

For shot one we're both sitting on the dock. There's actually about five different positions that make up Shot One, but none of us, including Lallie, have memorized all of those for all the sets, so Lallie has them written down and she's going to read them out to us.

"Shot One, Number One. This is the one where Nikhila's in Finnick's lap, we need burst HDR shots from cameras two and five."

Nikhila and I reluctantly leave the tent and walk out to the dock.

"Do you care where on the dock?"

I'm pretty sure that she said something about a microphone on the in-ears.

"Where you are is fine."

I sit down and Nikhila joins me. After doing the whole routine in rehearsal it's probably not as awkward as it should be.

"Lean sideways and then back a bit, Nikhila. Finnick needs to be able to look down at you, and you want a hundred percent of your weight on him."

She turns in my lap a bit and rests her head on my shoulder, looking up at me.

"Perfect, and shoot."

We continue doing that for all of the positions, dock, water, and beach, and then for Sets A-E, breaking between C and D for lunch.

Now there's only one more. The kissing set.

"Finnick and Nikhila to starting positions for Day One, Set F, Shot One. All crew to positions for Set F."

I reluctantly put down the hot chocolate my mom brought over a few minutes ago and go back out to the dock. Somewhere between Sets D and E it got absolutely freezing.

Or I'm just tired of being soaking wet.

I remember this shot. Nikhila and I are sitting next each other with our feet in the water. Our heads are turned toward each other locked in a light kiss, bracing ourselves against the side of the dock.

I remember this one because I'd do this with my real girlfriend. While she still existed.

Nikhila sits down and I drop down next to her and turn letting my lips meet hers.

"Great. Shoot."

Flashes go off.

We move through the rest of the shots fairly easily. Lallie's definitely added some things, because I would have remembered neck kissing at rehearsal, but at this point Nikhila and I don't really care anymore.

"And that's a wrap for day one of the STORM photoshoot!" Lallie calls out. That's met with cheers. We can all go home and change into dry clothes. I see Tislee coming our way and try to think of something to say in closing.

"That's day one of the STORM shoot, tomorrow we'll be back out filming television advertisements."

"See you tomorrow," Nikhila says with a wink.

_Done_.

**...**

**FOOTNOTES**

**1. **Today's random My Chem reference is brought to you by: Jayde Papillon. Let me know in your reviews if you got it :D

**2.** Adobe After Effects. A video production software. Not American Eagle, Accident and Emergency, the American television network, or whatever else AE means to you.

**...**

**A/N: Firstly FF.N has redone profile links. Now there are links to the Fan Art section of my deviantART gallery, my Polyvore account where you can find all the outfits that I talk about in WLBAG, my TAAZ Virtual Makeover account where you can find all the makeup design, my writing board on Pinterest, and my recommendations for Nightlock Fic Recs. Check it out!**

**Please review, I really appreciate the feedback!**

**-cindella204**


	32. Part II Chapter 11

**SHOUT OUTS:**

**Thanks to _shieldmaiden19_, _The Ice Within_, and _Dude_ (x2) for the reviews.**

**...**

**DISCLAIMER:**

**There are several concepts, characters, and real life things that I use and/or mention in this chapter that I don't own. These include but are not limited to the Hunger Games and Finnick Odair.**

**...**

**A/N: Two new policies. One, I'm not censoring curse words except for the f-word now. The f-word is still "f—", but everything else is spelled out. Two, I'm only doing review rewards at the end of Part II for readers who have reviewed every chapter of Part II. You can go back and review chapters you've skipped if necessary.**

**I am not a teenage male, so I'm apologizing ahead of time for any inaccuracies in this chapter. Inaccuracies that go hand in hand with the STRONG sexual themes label. It's not explicit by any means, but if you get everything I implied…it's a good deal more sexual than anything we've seen in this story and I wanted the rating to reflect that.**

**There will be about three truly sexual chapters in this story. This is one of them. If this kind of thing makes you uncomfortable let me know in your reviews, because I'll note that.**

**...**

**IN THIS CHAPTER: **STRONG adult language, STRONG sexual themes

**...**

**CHAPTER 11**

**December 17**

"This is day two of the STORM photoshoot and we're getting prepped for the television ads," I say, smiling at the camera. I have no prep except for putting on shorts and flip flops and having Jayde put on the mask (aka waterproof foundation), so I have to do all the talking for the behind the scenes.

"How many ads?"

"Ten, I think. We have three different locations—beach, water, and dock—and then we have to do girls line, guys line, and group for each. I'm not sure what the tenth shot is."

"Group shot with a different marketing approach," Jayde says.

Oh.

"Speaking of marketing, just from seeing the clothing in this shoot I already know that this is going to have a very different feel compared to yesterday's shoot. Why the change?" Tislee asks.

It's different. Way different. Nikhila's wearing a strapless bikini with heels so tall she's probably my height now. Stilettos, of course.

"Well, when Lallie and I were first starting with this project, before Finnick and Nikhila even came on the scene, we knew that we wanted to have both sides of a storm represented. Storms are dangerous and aggressive, but they're also a beautiful natural phenomenon that can be a powerful emotional metaphor. Yesterday's shoot was more the beautiful nature part, and today is the physical, more aggressive part."

Tislee nods.

"Wait a minute, Finnick, since you're done you can start putting this on." She reaches into a plastic bag and pulls out a bottle of LiquiCoat.

I motion for her to toss it to me and start applying it. The consistency is…unpleasant but if it will keep me from freezing my ass off then that will make it well worth it.

Nikhila makes a face. "Why's it green?"

"_Green_?" It doesn't look green to me, but of course I'm seeing it on my own skin.

Jayde sighs. "Slightly. It'll go away in about five minutes."

Well that's great. When I turn to the mirror I can see it, it's just looking down on it you can't because of the lighting.

The green tint doesn't mix with my skin tone very nicely.

I finish with the lotion. Except for my back, which I can't reach.

"I get your back, you get mine?" I ask Nikhila.

"Yep, as soon as I finish this."

Jayde is finishing up her makeup.

"I'm going to get a jacket, because I honestly don't trust your lotion stuff, do you want something Nikhila?"

"Umm, sure, please."

I nod and head upstairs to grab my coat before opening my computer and sending a broadcast message trying to get my mom. It'll pop up on every computer in the house (one in each room) and then once she replies it'll switch to a PM and just go between my computer and whichever one she's using. It's nice for when I'm not quite sure where she is.

**What's up, Finnick?**, she asks.

**Hey mom, can I give your long raincoat to Nikhila for the shoot today so she doesn't freeze on the way there?**

**Of course, it's either in my bedroom closet or in the hall closet down here.**

**Awesome, thanks.**

I walk across the hall to her room, find the coat, and run back downstairs.

"Here you go," I say, tossing the jacket in Nikhila's lap. "Where'd Jayde go?"

"Thanks, and she said that we need to finish the lotion and then we're set, so she went to see if Lallie needed help with anything. She's the assistant director."

"So that's what First AD stands for?"

"I guess so. It makes sense, AD, Assistant Director…"

Why didn't I figure that out until now?

"Come here," she says. "We need to hurry up and get downstairs."

Nikhila saunters toward me and starts rubbing the lotion into my back. I don't know what she's trying to do…or if she's even trying, but I feel like I'm already on set.

"All done. My turn."

She hands me the bottle of lotion and spins on her heel.

Dear God.

I start at her shoulders and move down, gingerly lifting the strings of her bikini so that I don't miss spots.

"You're done."

"Cool, let's go."

We're the last ones to get down there at 10:17 and Lallie immediately starts talking.

"Hey guys, we're going into day two, which is the video ads of course. Everything's here on the island today. Any questions?"

"Where are we doing the first shot?"

"Cliff," Lallie answers. "Anything else?"

No.

"Alright, let's go."

**...**

**Later**

I stand under the tent rolling my shoulders in a pathetic attempt to rid myself of some of the anxiety.

Tislee's coming my way.

_Dammit_.

I try to force myself into the charming Finnick that I'm supposed to be in front of a camera.

I don't think it's working very well.

"So, what's going on, Finnick?"

"We're getting ready to shoot the first ad, which is for the guys line on the cliff."

"And how do you feel about that?"

I smirk. "Excited. Regardless of the circumstances, I get to make out with a hot girl in a bikini, so it's hard not to be excited."

I cringe internally when I realize how that came out. 1 It's probably better than what I had actually intended, but still…ugh. There's a very line between intentionally charming and sexy and a creepy pervert, and I've been trying not to cross it.

She laughs.

"Speaking of that, today's Nikhila's birthday. And she's actually really lucky because she gets to spend the whole day making out with _moi_."

"Lucky duck…" Tislee mutters under her breath.

Jayde walks up. "You need to come get your in-ears, and then we're going straight to starting positions."

I take off my jacket and then go to get them. Apparently Lallie needed to make sure they didn't move, so the cord ends up getting taped to my back with some kind of tape made for skin.

I go up to where Nikhila is already standing and get into our starting position. She's leaning against my chest giving me a flirty smile while I smirk down at her.

They have us on an incline so that there's enough of a height difference for me to do that with her in three inch heels.

"And I think we're already in starting positions for Day 2, Set A, Shot One. Arlin, is the metadata already in?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Starting Shot 2A1 in five, four, three, two,"

_Here goes_.

"And start the first kiss."

Nikhila locks her hands in my hair and pulls my head forward, initiating an airy kiss.

For someone with no time for relationships she's a damn good kisser.

"Stage three."

That kiss becomes solid and stays that way for a good ten seconds.

"Open mouth, and Nikhila slide up."

Oh God. Nikhila's tongue slides into my mouth and she jumps up and wraps her arms around my neck as I lock my hands behind her back, with her feet locking around mine.

Nikhila finds a rhythm with her tongue and starts bouncing her hips in the same time.

Her hips that are practically glued to mine.

Her hips that are—

Dangerous train of thought. That will lead to _other _things.

I attempt to focus on matching her mouth.

"Now we're going neck and down."

I trail my lips down to the pulse point on her and suck, her rapid pulse the only sign that she's feeling anything at all.

She starts kissing any part of my neck she can reach (I swear I feel her tongue slide out at least a couple times) and she is still doing the hip bouncing thing which is honestly more like grinding.

_Focus_.

I realize that I've been on this one spot for a good ten seconds and pull my head up to see an angry circle of red. She's not going to be happy about that.

She takes advantage of me moving to run the tip of her tongue down my neck and to my shoulder, with just enough suction to make me completely lose it.

_Just keep kissing her_.

I don't even know what I'm doing anymore. Trying not to do anything obscene.

"Line, Finnick."

Somehow I manage to say the line how we practiced it. I _really_ don't know how.

"And, cut!"

I can't even think straight.

"Stop," a sharp intake of breath, "Grinding on me," I choke out before pulling out my in-ears, slipping off my shoes, and hurling myself over the cliff into the water ten meters below.

Reflexes take over and I twist and somersault through the air before I break the surface.

I somersault under the water a few times and then just stay under until I can form coherent thoughts again. I was in a relationship with Irlissa for almost ten months. Sure I felt stuff with her, she was attractive and effective like most of the girls in District Four, but not like _that_. Neither of us are really physical people, so we pretty much stuck to kissing. And a little bit of mild touching.

That was none of the above. She's in that _tiny_ bikini, absolutely soaked (I have no clue why that's such a turn on), with her legs wrapped—

Reliving that won't help.

I pop up out of the water and try to figure out exactly where I am. I've swam down here before—there's a fine line between impulsivity and idiocy, and cliff jumping into unknown water during a storm would be on the idiocy side—but I haven't been down here in forever, and it's storming, reducing the visibility quite a bit.

I hear someone yelling my name (I think) and I swim out far enough too see over the cliff. Lallie is standing there yelling something, but I'm too far away to hear it now over the wind.

"What!" I yell, even though I know she won't be able to hear me.

I can see her mouth moving, but I still don't have a clue what's she's trying to get at. Frustrated she turns to Nikhila and says something. Nikhila hesitates before she ditches her in-ears and shoes and dives into the water.

What?

I start swimming toward her, and we meet in the middle.

"What's up?" I ask.

"Lallie wanted me to tell you to stay down here because our next shoot will be in the water."

I nod.

Awkward silence.

"Sorry about…that. Since I didn't have the line I pretty much stopped thinking and acted on instinct, and instincts…yeah, sorry."

"Don't worry about it."

I start to see the tech crew coming to the water line.

Next shot.

**...**

**Later**

"Starting positions for Day 2, Set B, Shot 2."

Nikhila and I dip under the surface of the water. Apparently water is _under_water.

"Starting Shot 2B2 in five, four, three, two."

I push Nikhila's hair out of her face and meet her lips.

She's taking this one really fast for some reason. By ten seconds we've got an opened mouth kiss, and by fifteen we're full on making out.

Lallie must have decided that she wants to see how this plays out, because she's not giving us instructions.

Nikhila drives her tongue as far as she can before pulling out and biting my lip hard enough that I taste blood.

We're in the middle of the ocean. Which is salt water.

It stings like _hell_.

I curse against her mouth when she decides to run her tongue over it, but I keep kissing and try not to be seriously disturbed when I see my blood in the water, because what else am I supposed to do?

I drop my hands to Nikhila's waist and pull her legs under me, kissing a trail down her neck and and around one of the cups of her bikini. She finds a spot on my shoulder that she likes and I gently pivot her hips until we're semi-vertical and then pull them against mine.

Okay, so _maybe_ I'm trying to get back at her for earlier. Maybe.

She groans against my chest and suddenly my mind is going _very dangerous _places again.

I do my best to ignore it, and wrap an arm around her, inching it up her back until I reach the strings of her bikini. I move that one hand as far froward as I dare while keeping it under the stretchy material of her bathing suit, and then I match one the other side pulling her even closer.

I feel her shudder, but I'm not done yet.

I move my mouth back to hers as I move my hands in slow, deliberate circles.

She says something into my mouth that feels like it could be, "_Shit_, Finnick."

_Score._

"Alright, you guys need to come back up for the line."

We both float to the surface and I keep on kissing Nikhila's neck as she chokes out her line.

"Cut. That's the end of 2B2."

"Happy birthday," I say silkily, winking at Nikhila.

She whips her head toward me. "What the _f—_ was that about?"

I shrug as we tread through the water. "Karma's a bitch."

She looks confused for a second before she realizes what I'm getting at. "I apologized!"

"So? And you're getting on me? You bit me. And drew blood. What the hell?"

"Hey, you said save the biting for my ad."

"Yeah, a little bit of nibbling, not drawing blood! And did you have to do it for the underwater shoot? That hurt like crap."

She cringes. "I didn't think about that. Sorry."

"Of course you didn't." Typical.

We pull ourselves out of the water and get into our starting positions on the rocky beach for the next shot. Lallie walks up.

"Dear God, that was hot. And I mean that in the least creepy way possible," she adds as an afterthought.

We both nod. "Thanks."

"Starting positions for Day 2, Set B, Shot 3."

Nikhila and I both sit down with our backs to the water and hold hands.

"In five, four, three, two, one."

**...**

**Later**

"Come _on_, Tyler," Nikhila mutters under her breath. After the shoot Nikhila and I showered and changed at the house before heading to the mainland to stop at her house for her birthday. I used the same wetsuit concept as yesterday, so we're not truly wet, but after the ten minute walk from the docks our outer clothes are soaked. We're now on Nikhila's porch waiting for her brother to open the door because she didn't bring her keys.

And getting rained on, hence her impatience.

The door opens and behind it is a boy who looks a lot older than thirteen with chocolate brown hair and the same sea green eyes that most of Four has.

"Nikhila! Happy birthday; come on in."

We both strip our boots and wet outerwear before he leads us into a cozy living room and flips the switch for a small lamp in the corner of the room. "I didn't think you came back until after Christmas."

"I don't. I got in at about two in the morning yesterday and I'm leaving just before midnight tonight. We're just here to take some photos. Speaking of that, Finnick, this is Tyler. Tyler, Finnick."

"Nice to meet you," we both say as we shake hands.

"So, how's it been going here?" she asks.

He sighs. "Okay, I guess. The last couple days have been rough because Grace is super sick and mom's been more temperamental than usual, I think it's that time of month."

"Grace is sick?" Nikhila asks, alarmed.

"Yeah, I don't know what's up with her. Monday she was feeling headache-y and dizzy, and then Tuesday I woke up to her puking her guts out. She's still doing that."

"Oh God." Nikhila sprints up the half-flight of stairs with Tyler on her heels and I follow (awkwardly) to what I assume is their shared bedroom. A metal framed twin bed sits against the wall closest to the door, and then a set of bunk beds with peeling paint are against the far wall.

"Grace?"

The covers shift on the bottom bunk and Grace's head pokes out of the covers. She's the spitting image of Nikhila but younger.

"Nikki! Happy Birthday," she says with a smile. I'm not sure how she's so peppy when she's supposedly been throwing up all day, but she's got that whole naive, smiley thing going. It never lasts past twelve here. When you turn twelve you start Second. Ed. (Let's train to kill people!) and the Games become a reality, and any naiveté is utterly annihilated.

Nikhila raises an eyebrow. "What did I say about you calling me Nikki? And thanks. How are you feeling, sweetie?"

"A little better, but still not good. I'm okay though. I thought you didn't get back until after Christmas?"

"She's here just for today doing shoots with Finnick."

"Yeah. Finnick, Grace; Grace, Finnick."

"Oh, hi, Finnick."

"Hey."

She turns back to her brother when another little girl walks in.

"Tyler, I'm _hunnnnngry_."

He sighs. "Oh my God, Cristale, didn't you just—_shit_."

Nikhila gives him a pointed look. "How 'bout we _don't_ curse in front of the five year old? And I'll go make dinner."

Tyler mouthes a string of curse words before asking what time it is.

I check my phone. "Half past nineteen."

"Fu—crap. I'll be back, Grace."

He follows his sister out of the room, and I follow him because it's a little less awkward then staying with his nine year old sister. I think.

"Where's Canson?" Nikhila asks.

"In his room." They navigate to a small kitchen and Nikhila starts to dig through the fridge as Cristale sits down at the table.

"Is this soup for Grace?"

"Yeah."

"I'm going to heat that up now so they can eat and then I'll make more for tomorrow."

"Fine."

They slip into a comfortable silence as they move around the kitchen, and I can almost see the connection Nikhila was talking about.

After ten minutes in their ancient microwave Nikhila says something about how it's "good enough" and starts getting out bowls.

"You wanna run and get Canson?" she asks her brother.

He nods and slips out of the kitchen.

"Hey Finnick, can you pass me the salt? In should be on the table somewhere."

"Yeah." I carefully move things to the side until I find the little white shaker and pass it to her.

"Sorry about the mess. Without two of us cleaning kind of goes by the wave-side. Mom can't be bothered to do it, and with Tyler on his own he doesn't exactly have time."

"No, it's fine. Me and my mom used to the same thing, pre-Games obviously. She was working multiple jobs, and I was doing school, training, and work, so neither us were home long enough to really care."

She nods. "That makes sense; if no one's there, then yeah, cleaning wouldn't be worth losing sleep. My mom, however, is home all _freaking_ day, and yet—"

"Hi, Nikhila."

Nikhila turns a boy who must be Canson and she smiles, all traces of her earlier irritation gone.

"Hey Canson, good to see you again."

"Do you have Grace's food? I'll probably go hang out in there for a little bit and make sure she's doing okay and then I'll come eat," Tyler says, coming up behind Canson.

"No," Nikhila says without actually turning to look at Tyler. "You've been with the kids all day. Sit down and eat and I'll take it."

"Nikhila. You're home for one day, and it's your birthday. I'll take it, it's fine."

"Tyler—"

"I could take it."

They both turn to look at me.

"You guys both deserve to have some time off, and it's not like I need to eat, so I can bring it to her and then you guys can catch up or whatever."

Tyler hesitates for a second and the he nods. "Okay, thanks."

I nod and pick up the tray with Grace's food, walking back to her room. She's sitting up in her bed with a book.

"Hey Grace?"

She puts down the book and turns toward me. "Oh, hey Finnick."

"Dinner."

She nods as I set the tray in her lap carefully.

"Thanks," she says with a smile.

"You're welcome."

Tyler said something about staying, so I drag over the chair for Nikhila's tiny desk.

"Can you read?"

"What?"

"Read." She holds out her book. "It's hard for me to do it myself because my eyes are so watery."

Oh. "Sure."

I open to the page she's bookmarked and start reading.

"_Tell me, Muse, the story of the demigoddess Alexandra. Tell me the story of the blessing turned a curse, the love turned into bitter hatred. She was unmatched in all of the earth, but her hubris caused her downfall in the end. Her impudent challenge caused her to live the rest of her life cursed and on the run. Tell us this story, goddess daughter of Zeus, beginning at whatever point you will._"

Oh God, Greek mythology. Apparently these stories were written in some ancient time to explain natural phenomenons or something like that. We talked about it in English class, but I never really cared about it.

_Alexandra was the most beautiful demigoddess of the century. She was a daughter of Erebus, but she still managed to win the favor of all the gods with the direct blessing of Aphrodite and Apollo of the golden bow, giving her superior allure and musical ability. Girls all over the world, both the clear-sighted and the mortals, wanted to be her, and the guys wanted to be with her, but none of them were good enough for Alexandra. She laughed in the faces of both, in the same fashion that Ares of the bloodied boar laughed at the women of Greece and Troy as the prayed for an end to the Trojan War. She laughed in the same manner, as if she couldn't believe the idiocy of them all, for none were good enough for Alexandra._

Dramatic.

"_Eris was not a fan of the Olympians. Ever since the Trojan War mishap they had taken every opportunity to shun her, mock her, and treat her badly; she was treated like the poor beggars who stood outside the palaces of the Ancient Greeks millennia ago. She had every reason to side with the Titans in the Second War, but she stayed neutral and played mercenary instead, switching sides several times during the course of the war. Instead of foolishly and openly attacking the Olympians, Eris preferred to make things difficult for them in a much more subtle way. This time, she used a dream to inspire the demigoddess Alexandra to visit Mount Olympus and cause trouble. She planned to send the heroine on the Winter Solstice when they would be too distracted to notice her until it was too late. She could easily start something between the Olympians to get them out of the council room for just enough time. She momentarily felt bad for manipulating the demigoddess, but the feeling faded quickly. The girl would not be harmed, and it was her job to create strife. Alexandra just happened to be the perfect tool to do it with."_ 2

When I look up she's asleep. I shut the book and place it on the floor next to the bed, take her tray, and walk back out to the kitchen.

"She fell asleep."

"Seriously?" Tyler asks. "She's been having a really hard time falling asleep lately."

I shrug. "I was reading to her and I looked up and she was asleep."

"Awesome, she hasn't been sleeping and that's not helping her get better."

"What should I do with the dishes."

"Just put them in the sink, I'll get it later."

I nod. "Where did Nikhila go?"

"She's probably somewhere fighting with mom. I heard a door slam a few minutes ago."

"Oh. Does your mom ever listen to anything she says? I mean, she's always talking about fighting with your mom, but it seems like the situation's still _exactly_ the same."

"No. Mom doesn't care what she says. She just does it; Nikhila and I have very different perspectives on life in general. Her thing is 'Never sit down, never shut up, and never compromise.' I'm not into that. I mean, you can't really control what anyone does but yourself, so instead of wasting your time fighting with other people it makes a lot more sense to just do whatever you can to make the best of the situation and move on. That's just me though."

"Really? She's been rather...docile with us in the past...however long it's been."

"Two and a half weeks, I think. And yeah, but that's kind of different. She wouldn't yet because she doesn't know you guys well enough yet to feel like she can. After a few months though, if not by the end of _this_ month she'll be making it very clear what she wants when she wants it. It just takes time."

"Oh."

"Yeah. She just acts really differently when she gets frustrated. Her thing is to start yelling and screaming at every little thing, and I just don't do that. Every once in a while I'll be like 'F—k it _all_' and disappear for awhile, but I don't really do the screaming thing. It's just...annoying because I'll be cooking, helping Grace with her homework, and trying to break up a fight between Canson and Cristale who honestly don't get along very well, and she'll be off yelling at mom. It's like, 'Could you stop yelling at mom and actually be helpful?' I actually said that to her once, and I think it's the only time she's been seriously pissed at me. We get into spats all the time, it's kind of inevitable, but that time she was angry for...at least a couple days, which is a lot for her. It probably didn't help that I refused to apologize until she did. I just didn't see why I was apologizing because she was going around picking fights for no f—king reason and I was ticked off because of it. I love her, I swear, it's just it gets really old sometimes."

"No, that makes sense. If your mom is seriously as set on doing what she does as Nikhila makes her seem then I don't see what the point would be in fighting with her other than being able to say you tried."

"Yeah, that's why she does it. Her thing is to keep on screaming until your voice is heard, and if that means she's screaming into the ocean where there's no one to hear that's fine for her. I get why she does it objectively, but it's just personally annoying to me since someone has to be taking care of Grace, Cristale, and Canson while she's off having her tantrums with mom. I need her; honestly the past two and a half weeks have been _hell _without her, not that I"d tell her that, but it's just...frustrating sometimes. Whatever. You take what you can get."

I've always thought it was interesting (more like depressing) how the shittiest things happen to the best people.

**...**

**FOOTNOTES:**

**1. **Very enthusiastic and eager versus sexually aroused. Word play XD

**2.** This is a piece from a Greek Mythology with a hint of PJO fic that I wrote for English class. It's on my profile if you want to see it.

**...**

**A/N: Ugh, I feel like you guys are going to love this or hate it. It was definitely _different_ for me. Let me know what you thought!**

**-cindella204**


	33. Part II Chapter 12

**SHOUT OUTS:**

**Special shout outs to ****_shieldmaiden19_**** and ****_The Ice Within_**** who have reviewed every chapter! Thanks guys, it really means a lot.**

**Special thanks also to ****_The Fancy Unicorn, , PurpleBoo (x4), _****and ****_It's All In Your Mind _****for reviewing the previous chapter!**

**...**

**DISCLAIMER:**

**There are several concepts, characters, and real life things that I use and/or mention in this chapter that I don't own. These include but are not limited to the Hunger Games and Finnick Odair.**

**...**

**A/N: Hey. You all should check out "crabstickz" on YouTube. He's really funny, and he's the only reason you have a chapter right now. His video called "Quitting YouTube" inspired me to finally finish this after at least four re-writes.**

**I kept trying to write this and failing. I felt so much pressure for this to be perfect, but I was going through a very hard time personally and that wasn't happening. At the same time, some of my favorite, most encouraging reviewers have just disappeared into thin air. About two or three weeks ago I read all 206 reviews that I've received so far, and I wanted to write again. I tried to write this, but it was horrible, and I deleted it all again. And then I watched crabstickz's video today and I said "I'm finishing Chapter 12 today". And I did. Enjoy.**

**...**

**IN THIS CHAPTER: **STRONG adult language (more than usual, but I put a lot of though into it and deided that it needed to be kept), moderate sexual themes

**...**

**CHAPTER 12**

**22 December**

Nikhila flips through her Collector's Print Copy of PanemHEAT, looking at our photoshoot from last week and laughing at how ridiculous some of the shots ended up. We did a shoot and interview for the God-forsaken tabloid, because apparently it was the "logical advertising platform" regardless of how much Lallie hates it.

"Look at _that_."

She points to a photo from the last shot, this weird thing with too much black that they kept calling "scoth". What was originally supposed to be just an overly-sexual neck kissing shot (Just suck like you're trying to give her a hickey, Finnick!) is now just freaky.

"Why do I have Enobaria teeth now?"

"Apparently we're vampires."

"Meaning?"

"I have no clue."

"It looks like I'm biting your neck and you're just like 'Nnnggh, keep going.' What the hell?"

"Yeah…I don't know. I guess we could ask Jayde or Lallie, they'd probably at least understand the pop culture reference."

At that moment, Lallie walks in. Figures.

"Oh, you guys got your print copies. Keep those; they're worth a fortune."

"Seriously?" I ask. "We have them in Four."

"Not these, you don't. The district version of PanemHEAT is slightly altered to make it "district appropriate"; whatever that means. A couple hundred of those get printed to go to Districts One, Two, and Four. They only print twenty Capitol versions for each issue: for the collectors who want paper for some reason. The average person doesn't read on paper here, that's what iPads and the other tablets are for. Even collectors don't read on paper, the paper ones are just for display. They actually read the magazines online like everyone else."

Nikhila shakes her head. "I think it's funny that back home everyone would rather have the digital, but we don't have the technology for that, and here people are paying a fortune for paper, which is what we have at home."

Lallie snorts. "Please, that's society in general. The grass is always greener on the other side. Anyway, I'm here because I wanted to brief you for a news appearance you'll be doing tomorrow. This will be your Victor Special, Finnick."

Great. Just great. After each Games there's a mandatory-viewing television special showing the victor's talent and how much fun they're having living the life (what a load of shit). I figured I'd be doing one at some point while I was here, but now that I'm doing a release for STORM it's most likely going to be an over-sexualized, fluffy interview that will be pushing CO15. But still mandatory viewing, which means forcing a whole bunch of kids to watch me talk about sex. Because that's _definitely_ what I want the entire nation to see.

"You seem upset about that," Lallie states. It's not a question.

"Little bit." I don't elaborate, and she knows better than to ask.

"Wait, if this is your Victor Special, and I'm going to be in it, oh my God! I'm going to be on mandatory viewing?"

"Yeah."

"Holy crap."

"Yeah, it's lovely," I say sarcastically. I don't know why this is getting me so bent out of shape, but there are few things that I want to do less than this stupid interview. I'm just sick and tired of this sexy act. It was one thing for the Games, that was for my life, but now it's for the personal entertainment of the Capitol, and I'm tired of being a pawn. In all honesty, the STORM shoot scared the _shit_ out of me. The night we got home I rolled around in bed having a "What am I doing with my life?" identity crisis. If I'm not careful I'm going to get this image stuck to me permanently, and I don't think I could handle doing this every time I come here for the rest of my life.

So I'm not doing it this time. Fuck the Capitol media.

"Finnick?"

Oh crap, Lallie was talking to me.

"What now?"

"You just _completely_ zoned out."

"Sorry."

She shakes here head. "What I was saying is that you don't really need to get briefed on this I feel like. You've done interviews before, you know the personality you're working with, if anything I'd just say that you need to interact with your audience which you haven't done before. Make them feel like they're a part of the interview. Stay sexy. I am going to give Nikhila a full brief; if you want to you can stay, but—"

"I'm good."

And I leave before she can say anything else.

**...**

**23 December**

Nikhila wraps her legs around me as she forces my mouth open, and my only thought is, _How the _fuck_ did I get here?_

This is exactly what I was _not_ going to do in this interview. But when the ever-vigilant Nikhila says, "That was _all_ real and I'll prove it," I know I'm stuck.

As much as I'd like to say, "Bitch, don't touch me," that's not going to work. So I fake it for about thirty seconds before I shove her off of me, whisper yelling, "Stop it, there's kids watching."

She doesn't even blush.

Caesar is now looking at both of us like food. _Awesome_.

"I suppose you've proved your point, Miss Perez."

Nikhila nods sweetly. "I think so, Caesar."

**...**

**Later**

"What the _fuck_ was that?"

Nikhila flinches, but the shock is quickly replaced by pure anger. "I could ask you the same thing!"

"What the hell didn't you understand about 'follow me'?"

"What the hell didn't you understand about 'sexy'?"

"What if—" I stop in mid-sentence, running a hand through my hair in frustration. The last thing I want to do is have this conversation, especially with Nikhila of all people, but it looks like I'm not getting out of this one now. Awesome.

"Nikhila…what you need to understand, and _don't_, is that although this is just a fun little vacation for you, there is _so_ much more at stake for me. Throughout this entire trip I've been building the reputation that I'll have as a victor for the rest of my life. That was my victor special today, broadcast to every person in Panem. The image of me in my too-cool combat boots with that God-awful smirk on my face is going to be plastered into the minds of Panem from here until eternity, and maybe, just maybe, I didn't want that."

"So what were you going to do, say 'screw it' and straight up refuse to do it?"

"Pretty much."

"Okay, Finnick, I get what you're saying, but honestly, it's _way_ too late for that. If you wanted to do that, you probably should have decided that after your Games, and you probably shouldn't have agreed to make your talent modeling. Even if you continued after your Games that would have made sense, but when you chose your talent…it's your talent. You're going to be doing Capitol modeling for the rest of your life, and that means you will be definitely keeping the sexy going until you're too old to pull it off."

My teeth clench hard enough that it's painful by ignore it. She's right. Of course she's right. I'm stuck with my talent for who knows how long, and I managed to pick something that I've now realized I hate.

_Fuck._

"Yeah, okay. If anyone asks I'm in my room."

I turn and walk away.

**...**

**Earlier**

"So Finnick, we obviously know that all your video content is real, but what about the photographs? Can we get the first STORM poster on the screen?"

An image of Finnick and Nikhila back-to-back looking alluring and dangerous with the STORM branding overlayed on top flashes onto the screen.

"Perfect. With shots like that, you can even see the change in eye color if we zoom a bit, can you pull that off naturally?"

Finnick smirks. "Yeah. It's all about control, and making your mind more powerful than your body. Example." He squeezes his eyes shut for a moment, and we he opens them again he can tell from Caesar's shocked face that the's managed to pull off the turned on look without actually being turned on by anything; the darker green eyes, slightly dilated pupils, biting his lip just enough to send am message.

"Unleash the STORM within," he purrs, and every woman in the audience melts. "And then I can just switch to normal. It's all about control, and making people think what you want, it's not that hard. I could rock any woman in this audience's world without feeling jack, and they would never know."

Caesar nods, still absolutely floored from the earlier display. "Well that gives you quite a bit of power, doesn't it, Finnick."

He smirks again. "You could say so."

**...**

**A/N: Finnick's so high strung in this chapter, my word. Outfits for both Nikhila and Finnick at cindella204. polyvore. com**

**I'm glad to be back, and hopefully it won't be too long before Chapter 13. I already know what I'm going to write, so…**

**It'd be awesome if you'd review :)**

**-cindella204**


	34. Part II Chapter 13

**SHOUT OUTS:**

**Super shout outs to The Ice Within and shieldmaiden19 who have reviewed every chapter in Part II.**

**Shout outs to Bailey Rene, sparklegem108 (x2), and The Fancy Unicorn for reviewing the last chapter.**

**...**

**DISCLAIMER:**

**There are several concepts, characters, and real life things that I use and/or mention in this chapter that I don't own. These include but are not limited to the Hunger Games and Finnick Odair.**

**...**

**A/N: Thanks for your unbelievable support guys! The reason this chapter took so long was because it was a major chapter, and I just wanted it done right. And I've been incredibly busy. We had a snow day on Thursday and Friday though, so I got this done.**

**I also wrote a oneshot called ****_A Heavy Heart On The Boulevard_**** loosely based on a suggestion from shieldmaiden19. It's about a Capitol woman's experience with Finnick Odair. Check it out.**

**...**

**IN THIS CHAPTER: **Alcohol used to self-medicate, STRONG adult language.

**...**

**CHAPTER 13**

**25 December**

"Ow, fuck," I mutter, gingerly placing a hand on my forehead.

Jayde just laughs at me. "No comment, Mr. Everyone-Drinks-In-Four-And-I-Know-How-To-Handle-My-Alcohol."

"Okay, you said 'Limit the alcohol because you won't have time to sleep off a hangover tomorrow.' You did not say 'Nothing will taste like alcohol, but all of it's three times stronger than anything you've ever had, so be warned.'"

"Well you would have realized that if you put ten minutes in between drinks like a reasonable person instead of just pounding drinks until it all crashed down on you at once you and you were too wasted to remember your own name."

"First of all, I wasn't _that_ drunk. And even if I was, someone was shouting it at me every thirty seconds, so it would have been pretty damn hard to forget."

"You weren't? So when I came up to you and—"

"For God's sake, would you two stop screaming?"

Enter Nikhila. Who looks like _crap_.

"No one's screaming, Nikhila," I snap. "Stop being a bitch because you're extra hungover. So is everyone else."

Jayde looks like she's about to start laughing again, but I silence her with a glare. She bites her lip for a second before saying, "_I'm_ not. And the moral of this story, Finnick, is don't drink copious amounts of alcohol and purposely get beyond wasted when I've warned you in advance that you're going to be miserable if you do."

"I'll add that to the list of awesome life lessons I've learned this trip," I drawl.

Lallie walks in next and turns to Jayde, ignoring Nikhila and I. "Would you quit lecturing them like you're a disappointed parent and get them some food? They both have to be stage ready by one for that ceremony thing, and we haven't planned anything."

Then she turns to us. "My apartment, stat."

Nikhila and I follow her to the elevator and then to her kitchen where she forces us to eat eggs, burnt toast, and some drink that she calls VigorAde.

"For a good four months, or so, this is what I ate every day for breakfast, in hopes of getting myself straight for work so that I could do it all over again. Yay. Anyway, it'll help absorb the alcohol and rehydrate."

The last thing I want to do right now is eat, but I know from past experience that if you don't eat after a night like that you'll end up with problems a lot bigger than a hangover. I'm still not sure that my mom's forgiven me for scaring her half to death after I got wasted at Irlissa's house, refused to eat, and then just about died from dehydration. Once I start eating I realize how hungry I am, and I quickly finish up.

"Now what?" I ask Lallie.

"Umm…Nikhila, as soon as you finish go check in with Jayde in the studio and see what she needs you to do. Finnick, come."

I follow her to what must be her bedroom and she motions for me to sit in a chair at her desk.

"Neither of us is leaving this room until you tell me what the hell is going on."

No. What I had to tell Nikhila was bad enough, and I know that conversation will be absolutely unbearable with last night added to it.

"Didn't you say we had to be ready at one?"

Lallie looks down at her watch. To me it just looks like a maze, but apparently the time is in there somewhere, because she says, "It's ten twenty-four. You're going to sit here and stare at me until one?"

"Yep."

I make it about seven minutes, tops. I have a low tolerance for silence.

"Okay, fine. I was in a bad mood last night, I got wasted, and now I'm paying for it. Happy?"

Lallie snorts. "No. You've been totally...out of it since we got back from District Four. Which is why I'm asking what the hell is going on. I don't know if something happened there, or right after, or with PanemHEAT, but I've spent enough time around you now to know when you're upset."

"Umm…I didn't sleep more than five or six hours the entire time we were in Four, that may have something to do with it. As for PanemHEAT, you of all people should know what that was about. And after that, I've been fine. Tired, but fine."

"Then what the hell happened last night? And don't you dare tell me that 'Oh, it was a party so I wanted to get wasted and have fun.'"

"The signing wore me out physically and emotionally, and I thought the alcohol would help. Now would you please calm down and stop interrogating me?"

"Finnick—Here's the thing. I know what you're trying to do. If you piss me off enough you think I'll get tired of you and let you go do what you want. And Jayde probably would do that. But I won't. And the reason why is because I've been exactly where you are. And _that_ is why I'm worried, not because of how it could affect STORM, or the stuff tonight, or anything else, but because you're reminding me a lot of myself a few years ago, and that took me to a very dark place very quickly. So stop with the shit, because it won't work with me."

I inhale sharply. Of course. I didn't even think about the fact that Lallie would see right through that.

_Dammit_.

"I seriously am tired. Not just physically, but emotionally and psychologically. Tired of STORM, tired of the Capitol, tired of being a victor, and tired of life after the Games. And that's the God-honest truth."

Lallie sighs. "Finnick…"

"What, Lallie? You wanted to know what was up, now you do. I'm so. fucking. tired. And don't tell me how it's going to get better soon, because it's not. The next thing I'll do after this is my tour, and then I'll mentor, and then I'll be back here next December for another stupid project. Repeat for who knows how long. Merry fucking Christmas."

"What the hell do you want me to say then, Finnick? 'You're right, your life sucks, and will for the indefinite future, I feel sorry for you.'? I _will_ say that life does suck sometimes, and you have two options, you can feel sorry for yourself and let that drag you into depression, or you can say '_Fuck_ you, life' and do something about it. I know it's hard, I'll repeat, I've been there, and I did feel sorry myself, and all it did was make me suicidal and drug-dependent. Learn from my mistakes and deal with your stuff before you get there."

"Believe it or not, I'm not just _trying_ to be miserable, Lallie. Trust me, if I knew how to make this all go away I would have done it by now. But apparently I've lost my ability to stop thinking and just _do_, and it's really goddamn hard to stay 'upbeat and positive' when your entire world is crashing down around you."

"Two things to say to that: One, fake it for the cameras. Take my word for it; when you're going through crap, the only thing that can make it worse is when the media feels the need to get all up in it. Especially since PanemHEAT is already obsessed with you. And Two: you need to find you're one thing. The one thing that will keep you sane when everything is crashing down. For Jayde it's music. She's got a music library of thousands of songs, and there's a playlist for anything that could happen. For me, it's art. Find that thing, and hold onto it for dear life because shit happens, and you need a way to get through it."

I nod. "Yeah. And speaking of faking it for the cameras, don't I need to start getting ready for that thing tonight?"

Lallie smiles. "Let's do this."

**...**

"Ladies and Gentleman, Welcome to the PanemHEAT Year in Review Christmas Party. All one hundred of you are here this afternoon for being key players in what could easily called one of the best years the Capitol entertainment industry has ever had. We'd like to show—"

I'd forgotten how much I hate wearing a suit. Ties should be a weapon in the Hunger Games. Seriously. I feel like I'm being strangled.

Up front some video presentation starts recapping the year in entertainment, and pictures of celebrities I've never seen and don't care about slide across the screen with comments on their fabulous achievements.

Nikhila nudges my foot with hers and I turn to see that she's written something on a notepad she must of had in her purse.

_Even if they mention your Games, those weren't until September._

I take the pen from her.

_I know. Oh my god, what is that?_

_That's a woman, Finnick. I take it you're familiar with them? You could say I'm one. Same with Jayde and Lallie. She kind of looks like a squid from home though…the semi-translucent and shiny fabric in that bubble-shape? And even her face, she has _huge_ eyes and then her other features are…miniscule. Can't you get surgery to look like an animal here? Maybe she purposely looks like a squid._

I start to laugh and Jayde kicks me in the shin, effectively cutting me off. I just pass her the notepad and she bites her lip for a second before breaking into giggles and taking the pen from my grasp.

_Oh my god, that's Kirylessa Cantabrynn, the most well know model in Panem before you guys. The fact that you just compared to a…calling a squid an animal is a stretch…you compared her to a not-even animal! XD_

We all burst out laughing and Lallie glares at us, snatching the notepad.

_Look, I get that this is incredibly boring and useless, but could you three please ask like adults? For God's sake, I can't take you people anywhere._

We all try to regain our composure for Lallie's sake and pretend like we care. It's difficult, but somehow we manage.

**...**

"Finnick! It's so awesome to meet you! Ooh, this is so exciting!" She leans in and gives me a peck on the lips before grabbing my hand. "Come, I need to show you something at the bar!"

I wipe the glitter off my mouth when she's not looking and try to recover from her extra squeaky voice. I've been ambushed by women all day, and it's getting old.

"You have your own drink!"

"What?"

"Your own drink!" She snaps to get the attention of one of the avoxes at the bar. "Two Fours." She turns back to me. "It was inspired by you and your district, and the STORM project! Isn't that totally awesome?"

And it starts.

"Yeah. It's sweet that you guys think that much of me."

Two drinks are pushed at us. I take a sip of mine, and it takes like salt and citrus and the hard chemical taste that I've come to associate with vodka. Vodka is definitely not a District Four thing, but otherwise it's actually a pretty decent representation.

"It tastes like home. I'm impressed."

"Oh, I'm so glad! I've always been such a _huge_ fan, I actually sponsored you during the Games, and then when I heard about STORM, oh my God, I pre-ordered all the stuff immediately, and I was so excited when it came, I actually wearing it now, can you smell it, and when I saw this drink, I just _had_ to try it, oh my God!"

I take a large gulp of the drink in front of me. She actually smells like sweat and gin, but I smile and say, "Of course. You smell like a STORM. Do you have the STORM within?"

I let my tone drop until my voice is just above whisper.

She blushes. "Of course. Wanna hear about it?"

"I don't know. You seem like someone with a lot of…secrets. I like secrets," I say thoughtfully, although really could not care less.

I then get a play-by-play of some sex story I really did not need to hear. I nod at all the right times and keep sipping my drink, and the vodka starts to set in, giving me a buzz that suggests that this will be my last drink of the night if I want to be functional tomorrow morning.

"I should let you get back to your girlfriend," she slurs. She had already been drunk without a large drink that was mostly vodka. "Nice to meet you, Finnick." She gives me a clumsy wink and staggers off to…somewhere.

I find Nikhila removing herself from some guys arms and she raises an eyebrow at me.

"She looked like fun."

I scowl at her. "Shut up. Some things you can never un-hear."

She just laughs.

"Have you see water anywhere? I've got this salt taste stuck in my mouth and it's driving me crazy."

"Salt?"

"The drink I just had was salt-rimmed, so that was the last thing I got. It's supposedly based on Four, salt, citrus, and vodka. You should try it."

"Huh. And I think water's over there." She points at a table full of pretty little champagne flutes filled with clear liquid.

"Oh, awesome." I walk over, aware of Nikhila trailing behind me, and pick one up.

"Are you sure this is water? Because it smells weird."

"No, it just looked like water. Let me see?"

I hand it to her. "Oh yeah, and if you look really closely, it's not totally clear. Like there's…stuff in it. Probably not water then, I wouldn't drink it."

"Everyone's got them, though, like they're water. _Weird_."

"Go ask Jayde or Lallie. There's Lallie over there."

I follow her glance to Lallie, standing near the wall talking to a girl with blue hair. We walk over and she turns to us.

"Hey guys, what's up?"

"What the hell is this?"

She takes the glass from me and frowns at it.

"Umm…" She dips her finger into the glass and licks it before handing it back to me.

"Oh God. Don't do anything unreasonable, but it's a expectorant."

I just look at her.

"It makes you throw up. So you can eat more food."

"Take it from me. Because I'm going to drop it on the floor, and it will shatter, and I will not give a _shit_."

She sighs. "Finnick—"

"Lallie. Don't."

I turn and walk away, not caring whether Nikhila follows me or not. She does. I stop back at the bar and say "Surprise me," before turning to Nikhila. "Every damn time you're like, 'Well, it can get any worse than this now,' but there's always one more thing. I mean, for _fuck's_ sake, things aren't always great for us in Four, but in places like Twelve people are dying every day from starvation, and—"

I'm interrupted by a tap on the shoulder. I'm handed a cocktail glass with "peach/lime daiquiri" written on it. I take it and drink more than half of it in one gulp.

"And I'm just fucking _tired_ of it."

**...**

**26 December**

When Lallie wakes me up in the morning I'm only very mildly hungover, which is nice.

"We're bringing Nikhila over to the hovercraft pad in fifteen minutes, so if you want to say goodbye you should come do that."

I find pants and a shirt and wander out of my room to where Nikhila's waiting in the kitchen with her stuff.

"Finnick."

"Nikhila." I draw her into a hug. "I couldn't have done this without you. Not just in the obvious 'I needed a model' way, but also I'm not sure if I would have survived this with another girl. Thank you for everything."

She nods. "Thank _you_. For giving me this opportunity. It was seriously life-changing."

"I'm assuming Jayde or someone has your address. I think the STORM stuff will probably come sometime within the next week, and then I'll probably send some stuff when I get home in January."

"Do you have a sheet of paper? Just in case?"

"No, but here." I pull my phone of my pocket and find the notes thing before handing it to her. She carefully types out:

_325 Holloway Street_

_West Side, 4, 45, Panem_

"Awesome, thanks. And…I need a sheet of paper."

Lallie must overhear because a pad of sticky notes comes flying toward me. I catch them and write down my phone number and address.

"Training Center has a phone if you don't."

"We do. It's cheap, but it works."

"Awesome. Well, I guess this is goodbye? For now, anyway?"

She nods. "Bye, Finnick. And thank you."

I nod.

What now?

**...**

**A/N: Yay! Random P!ATD reference with the peach/lime daiquiri. I do that just to amuse myself XD And that watch is a real thing, google "Tokyoflash Kisai Maze Watch".**

**For those of you wondering "what now" like Finnick, you'll see ;) There's one more key thing that has to happen in Part II, and it will be toward the very end.**

**Review?**

**-cindella204**


	35. Part II Chapter 14

Apparently the link for this broke? I don't know what happened. Anyway: Take 2.

**SHOUT OUTS:**

**Thanks to shieldmaiden19, The Ice Within, Bailey Rene, and sparklegem108 for reviewing. Extra thanks to sparklegem108 for sitting on the phone with me when I need to bounce some ideas off of someone. Lots of love to you.**

**...**

**DISCLAIMER:**

**There are several concepts, characters, and real life things that I use and/or mention in this chapter that I don't own. These include but are not limited to the Hunger Games, Finnick Odair, President Snow, and Xanax.**

**...**

**A/N: Hey guys. **

**Firstly, the theme song for this chapter (minus the last section) is We Are Young by 3OH!3. Not the one by Fun. 3OH!3. It pretty much embodies everything that's going on here. You should YouTube/Spotify it. The theme song for the last section is Never Let Me Go by Florence + The Machine.  
><strong>

**Also, alcohol is ****_very_**** important to this chapter, so quick mixology lesson on the five main types of liquor:**

**(Good quality) ****_vodka_**** is colorless, tasteless, and flavorless. It's usually consumed in cocktails because it is tasteless, although some do drink it straight (that's hardcore though, it's ungodly strong). From Eastern Europe.**

**_Whiskey_**** is also very strong. Associated with men. Seriously. When you see a woman drinking whiskey straight it should be noted. There are many well known types such as bourbon and scotch, both mentioned in this chapter. Bourbon is from Kentucky (USA) and Scotch is from Scotland.**

**_Rum_**** is a spiced drink associated with islands, especially the Caribbean, and pirates. In my head canon this is what's most readily available in District Four.**

**The other two main types are ****_gin_**** and ****_tequila_****, but they're not important to this story right now so I'm ignoring them.**

**Last note, please know that ginger beer is a non-alcoholic soda similar to ginger ale, but ten times stronger. It is usually found in countries that were formerly under British rule, although you can find it in the World Cuisine aisle of some American grocery stores.**

**...**

**IN THIS CHAPTER: **STRONG adult language. Seriously. The language hasn't been this bad since that one chapter in Part I. I seriously evaluated it though and felt it necessary. Also there is unhealthy use of drugs and alcohol. And some mild sexual themes.

**...**

**CHAPTER 14**

**31 December**

My mom was one hundred percent right about New Year's in the Capitol. This is absolutely _insane_. I'm in a ballroom with five hundred thirteen to eighteen year olds, four open bars, and three dance floors the size of my bedroom. Recipe for disaster. Combine that with the fact that Capitol clothing is crazy, the music is worse, and I'm too popular for my own good, and I'm seriously ready to go hide out in the bathroom.

Which means it's time for another drink.

I head back to the nearest bar and order something random. Cocktails aren't big in District Four, and even the few we have probably have different names, so I've just come to terms with the fact that I have no clue what I'm drinking. A couple gets up to leave the bar and I quickly grab one of their seats. Apparently I ordered something super complicated, because my drink still isn't ready, so I look around and see who I'm sitting with. On my right is a couple who are sharing a seat and may or not be having sex. On a bar stool. At a party.

I turn to the left and see a girl who's probably my age stirring a glass of something with a coffee stirrer. Bourbon, maybe. One of the bartenders brings her another drink and she frowns at it.

"This isn't mine. I didn't order anything."

She turns to me and pushes it in my direction. "Is this yours?"

"Probably."

I take a sip, and it tastes so much like home that it's almost unpleasant. Ginger beer and rum. I didn't think that counted as a cocktail, especially in the Capitol, but it's undeniably the same drink that I've been drinking at pier parties since I started secondary school.

I turn back to the girl next to me. Her cotton candy colored makeup has mixed into her tears and it drips down her face.

"Are you okay?"

She turns to me and rolls her eyes. "Heads up, being nice to me isn't going to get you any closer to Kirylessa. I don't think she'll ever speak to me again, never mind any of my friends."

"Kirylessa?"

"Oh, right. You're not from here. District. She's that model that you see on every other billboard. Super famous."

"Oh, her! The squid girl!"

She gives me a confused look. "What?"

"I was at the PanemHEAT, fifty, Christmas, whatever that thing was, and during the Year in Review presentation they showed a picture of her where her dress made her look like a squid."

"A squid?" she asks drily.

"Yeah, it's an animal that lives in the ocean back home, hold up." I pull my phone out of my jacket pocket and do a quick image search.

"See?"

"Oh my God." She bites her lip. "That was the main dress for her release with Gilantri, this huge shoe company. The only thing bigger than that that happened all year was probably the STORM release."

"Yeah, Jayde, my stylist, said something about that. It was just funny to me because back home they're considered to be one of the most disgusting creatures in existence. Little bit of a culture shock."

She laughs bitterly. "Yeah, well, she's one of the most well-known names in fashion so obviously people here don't think that. For God's sakes, I look like a bag of fucking cotton candy and this is considered mild."

I was thinking the cotton candy thing five minutes ago, so I have no good response to that. With the purple eyeliner, blue eyeshadow, magenta mascara, and pink lip gloss, all in baby pastel shades, that was the first thing that came to mind.

"Hey, you look human, which is a start. Especially compared to your maybe-friend, who I think I saw earlier."

She snorts. "Not maybe friend. She's completely done with me. Which is why I'm sitting at a super exclusive party crying and drinking alone. This isn't my scene _at all_. I would never go to things like this except for her, and now she's not speaking to me."

"What happened that she's so pissed?"

She sighs. "Three hundred people thirteen to eighteen actually get invited to this party, and each of them get a plus one, bringing the actual total to six hundred. Kirylessa and I have been friends for almost ten years now, so it's almost assumed that she's bringing me to stuff like this, but she wanted to bring this guy she's crushing on this year. I was totally fine with that, so I just said I wouldn't go and she could bring him. The problem was that if she brought someone else it would be in the tabloids, and her parents don't like the guy or whatever, so I needed to be here anyway so they didn't know. Basically, she wanted me to sneak in some how."

"There's no way in _hell_." The security to get into this thing was ridiculous.

"Exactly. And that's what I told her. Either she could risk it with her parents or have her boy toy sneak in, but I wasn't sneaking in. She had some elaborate reason why he couldn't sneak in, and I told her that I couldn't either. So she felt like she had to take me, but now she's pissed at me and she's avoiding me. Everyone knows her and loves her, so she's having no problem finding other company, but since I don't really fit in the rich and famous scene, bourbon is my only friend."

"Yeah, well, my sidekick went back to the district and I have no clue how _any_ of this works, so I'm in the same boat."

She drains the rest of her glass and takes my hand. "I don't want to talk about it, come on."

And it's off to the dance floor. Hurrah.

She turns to face me as she leads me to the nearest mass of people. "By the way, my name is Zairya."

I smile. "Nice to meet you."

**...**

"How are you so good at this? It took me _hours_ to master this."

I spin her before responding. "Combat training. It surprisingly similar. Minus the touching."

"What's that like?"

The song switches to something slow and she spins again before grabbing my other hand.

"Combat training?"

"Yeah. The Games are kind of different because you'll probably die, but training seems like it would just be a never ending adrenaline high. I like thrill." She winks, and I fight the urge to roll my eyes.

"Umm…" How the hell do you describe the Training Center to a Capitol kid who wouldn't even have any point of comparison? "It's…intense. Definitely a lot of adrenaline. I was _good_ at it, so my perspective if probably different from someone else's, but I guess I liked it. It's just kind of hard to explain."

"Huh. Sounds kind of fun."

"What's the point of slow songs? I mean, everyone kind of stands together and sways. There's no point."

"The point is for you to make out with your date, look cute, and make everyone else on the dance floor jealous."

I see an Opportunity with that, and I lean forward.

"We can do that. If you want."

And then I lean forward and kiss her. The texture of her lip gloss is unpleasant, but she's a decent enough kisser. I keep it mild; I don't need pictures of me sex-kissing all over the magazines, but now that I've gotten stuck in this stupid charade it needs to be something. Lallie and Jayde agreed to let me do this my way, but it still needs to be done. Which means taking advantage of Opportunities when they come.

I break away and give her a second to catch her breath. I'm used to kissing District Four girls who can easily hold their breath as long or longer than I can.

"Is there _anything_ you aren't good at?"

"Singing. I can't sing."

She rolls her eyes. "I want another drink, come on."

**...**

"Okay, if you're going to sit on my lap you need to shift right some. The…whatever that is on the bottom of your dress is cutting off my circulation."

I take her hips and scoot her five centimeters to the right, causing her to giggle hysterically.

"Would you quit laughing, it feels weird."

Of course she just giggles more.

Women.

"Look at that one." She points off to the left.

"Which one?"

"Blue headpiece at ten o'clock."

I follow her finger and see a girl with a huge sea themed headpiece. There are boats, starfish, sand, seashells, and more in a black wig. Her dress is a teal monstrosity that is probably supposed to represent the ocean, but honestly it just makes her look fat.

"That's totally your fault. Sea-themed is in because of you and STORM. Have you noticed the trident jewelry?"

"The earrings that went through the ear to look like tridents were one thing. _That_ is another."

She laughs and hands me a drink. "Try that, it's one of my favorites."

It is _bright_ purple. No liquor is that color.

Actually, this is the Capitol. Anything is possible.

"What the hell is in that? It's _purple_."

"Just try it, it's good."

I cautiously take a sip and almost choke. "I feel like I'm eating flowers!"

She laughs. "It has some kind of violet syrup in it. Those of us with a more…_distinguished_ palette appreciate it."

"Yeah well my less-sophisticated District palette does not."

"Do you need something to get rid of the taste?"

Opportunity.

"Are you offering?"

She smirks. "Maybe."

"Then start that bourbon. I refuse to make out with you when you're last drink was vodka-based. I hate vodka."

She rolls her eyes. "Pushy, pushy."

"What can I say, I have high standards."

She makes a face, but knocks back the bourbon pretty quickly.

"Better." And I meet her lips.

**...**

"Five minutes 'till."

"Mhmm. In my district we have a tradition. When the clock switches to 23:59 you start kissing, and you can't stop until the New Year." I lean forward a bit. "Can you hold your breath that long?"

She smirks. "Like that mattered earlier."

I shrug. "True. I've realized the error in my ways."

She rolls her eyes. "I'll be fine. Come on, back to the floor. I know I have an unhealthy relationship with alcohol, but I still refuse to ring in my new year at the bar."

She drags me to the dance floor as eight invisible screens come to life with a picture of a girl I don't recognize.

I turn to Zairya.

"What?"

She rolls her eyes. "Oh God, this again. You'll see in a second."

And the girl begins to speak. "For those of you who don't me, I am Corayle Snow, and I'd like to wish you all a Happy New Year on behalf of the Presidential Family. As usual, our midnight toast drink will celebrate the district of this year's victor, so shout out to Finnick wherever you are. Waitresses will be coming around with drinks, but in the mean time enjoy the rest of your night, and have a _very_ Happy New Year."

Now I see the similarities between her and President Snow. They have the same kind of eyes.

Like eels.

"She does that every year. Actually, last year she wasn't here because she was too young. Honestly she still is now; everything she drinks is three quarters water because we can't have the president's granddaughter getting drunk and acting stupid. It's so ridiculous."

"Eh, screw responsibility. I was supposed to stop after about half of what I had tonight, but I'll sleep it off tomorrow."

She laughs. "Exactly. Ooh, there's the drinks. Oh my God, you got a special one. Lucky!"

"What?"

She grabs two drinks off a tray and gives me one that's different from the rest. "This one has you're name on it. And it smells really good."

As soon as I take it from her I'm assaulted by the smell of roses. Attached is a note.

**_Finnick:_**

**_I'm disappointed that I won't have the opportunity to greet you in person while you're here with us in the Capitol. I trust that Lallie and Jayde have shown you what the Capitol truly has to offer until I can speak with you during your Victory Tour._**

**_Wishing you a New Year as lovely as this one._**

**_- President Snow_**

"Hey, are you okay?"

I give the first excuse I can think of, which isn't a particularly good one.

"Yeah, just a little creeped out by how quickly they found me in a crowd of six hundred drunk teenagers."

She laughs. "Someone how they manage to keep tabs on everyone. Any time, any place, they know where you get are. For security reasons, et cetera, et cetera."

_No kidding._

"Anyway, one minute till. _Kiss me_."

_Here we go again_.

**...**

**1 January**

When I wake up, I want to literally crawl up in the fetal position. Calling this a headache would be the understatement of the year. I'm sure it's pathetic considering that I competed in the Games and all, but without a Hunger Games adrenaline rush, I'm not sure that I can handle this.

I check the time. Nine-thirty. _Screw_ my internal clock. I know I'm not going back to sleep at this point, so I quickly shower and put new clothes on before heading to the elevator. I need to stop by Lallie's apartment and get some of that, whatever it was she gave us to drink the other day. It actually worked.

I knock on Lallie's door, and she opens it.

She looks _wrecked_. Not just tired wrecked, but like she's totally not here.

"I need some of that stuff. The thing you gave Nikhila and I when we got wasted last week."

"Main pantry, left side, third shelf."

"Thanks."

I scoot past her and walk into her kitchen. Something's up. I've spent enough time around Lallie at this point to know that this isn't her.

And then something catches my eye. A pill bottle that's _definitely_ out a place. The way it's sitting on the shelf suggests that it doesn't belong there.

I turn to Lallie to ask her about it, because she's acting _strange_, and see her nursing a glass of something. And then I notice the bottle of Scotch sitting next to her.

What the _actual_ fuck?

"Yes, Lallie, chase that hangover with alcohol and pills, I'm _sure_ that will help you in the long run."

"Shut up, Finnick."

"Excuse me? After the crap you gave me last week, I don't think so."

She makes eye contact for the first time since I walked in.

"What are you talking about Finnick?"

"I'm talking about the guilt trip about me feeling sorry for myself! You totally flip on me for being upset, and then I'm supposed to just watch you drug yourself up when things get rough? I don't think so."

"Finnick, I'm sorry for disappointing you because I don't have my shit together," she drawls.

"This isn't about you having your shit together. This is about you throwing yourself onto a pedestal and pretending that you're so much better, making me feel like shit in the process, by the way, and then having the _audacity_ to be pissed at me for saying something about it."

"Pretending I'm better?"

"Yes! That whole thing about 'I've been there, and it just made me suicidal and drug dependent, you need to stop feeling sorry for yourself and do something about it, be proactive, et cetera.' I get that I'm a pain in the ass, and that I probably wouldn't have listened unless you guilt tripped me, so I got over that, but you don't get to guilt trip me when you're just as bad."

"I'm just as bad? Have you even stopped to think about why all this has happened? Stop being so wrapped up in yourself and your poor little issues and actually think about something outside yourself and then you might have a chance at understanding. Probably not, but maybe."

"First of all, Lallie, playing that card doesn't work with me. You're not going to make me feel guilty about thinking I have issues. You're just not. And second all, _you_ were the one saying 'Fuck life and do something about it.'"

"Yeah, well, life is sucking right now, and I'm dealing with it by drinking. Get over it."

"Oh my God, it's like I'm talking to a effing brick wall. What the hell did you even take?"

I go back to the first cabinet and pick up the bottle.

_LALLIE RENSHAW_

_XANAX 2 MG_

_ALPRAZOLAM 2 MG_

Oh _fuck._ That's just fantastic.

"Alprazolam. I wonder why that sounds so damn familiar, oh, right, that was from our little story session last month. When you were talking about your tortured past."

I grab the sports drink that I came here for.

"When you come off the initial high in a few hours don't come looking for me."

I slam the door just to be dramatic, and spin around to find Jayde right in front of me.

Dear Lord.

"What happened?"

"I got pissed at her for being stupid. Oh, and give this back to her, I'm not sure if she noticed me take it or not."

I all but throw Lallie's pill bottle up her and push the button for the elevator.

"Wait a minute isn't this—_fuck_."

"That's what I said."

"Finnick—"

"No, Jayde, go…deal with that. I'm _fine_."

She sighs and pulls the door open. "Lallie!"

And when it shuts I sit outside the door and open my VigorAde because I want to know what the hell is going on.

"Lallie, what happened last night?"

"Oh, he told you. Awesome."

"_He_ didn't do anything. Don't try make this about him, Lallie. Because it's not."

"Then what is this about? Finnick's already come and told me how irresponsible I am. I don't need it from you."

"God _dammit_, Lallie. Stop trying to piss me off so I'll leave you alone."

"What?"

Jayde laughs bitterly. "Two years of you taking advantage of that…it ends now. You and Finnick both."

"Wait a minute, you were _listening_ to that? What the hell, Jayde?"

"Yes, Lallie, I was listening that. You know why? Because I wanted to know what I was doing wrong. You obviously _get_ Finnick, and I obviously _don't_, so I thought maybe I could figure out what the hell was wrong with me. And I'm glad I did, because it's always good to know how someone's exploiting your weaknesses."

"Exploiting your weaknesses? Seriously, Jayde? You're being melodramatic, especially considering the fact that if this was Finnick he wouldn't be getting half of this, because Finnick can do no wrong."

I can do no wrong? Has she forgotten the whole model mess last month?

"You _really_ want to talk about Finnick, don't you, Lallie. Fine, we'll talk about Finnick. You scared the living _shit_ out him. I hope you're happy."

"No, I pissed him off. Calm down."

"Right, you're drunk, high, and dysfunctional and wouldn't know the difference. My bad. And you're also not going to talk to me right now. I'm going to take the pills with me and leave, and once you're ready to be reasonable, preferably after you've come down, come find me. And watch the drinking; if I have to take you to the hospital for alcohol poisoning I'm going to be _pissed_."

Jayde opens the door and I stand.

"So you're just going to let her drink herself into a coma?"

It takes Jayde a second to respond. "Seriously, Finnick?"

"Seriously what?"

"Seriously listening outside the door. What are we, twelve?"

"Fifteen isn't far off, as everyone loves to forget. I know, I'm a terrible person and self-absorbed, Lallie already reminded me. Now back to the point, what the hell?"

"Finnick—"

"Please, don't Jayde. I'm exhausted and hungover meaning that half the shit that comes out of my mouth isn't going to be reasonable. Get over it."

"She's got such a high Xanax tolerance that she's not going to get the mind-void she wants without drinking too. Even when she's self-destructive enough to relapse and take stuff, she's still smart enough to not overdose. That means that she's going to follow it with alcohol until she's too wasted to remember her name, which will be awhile. Unless, she has a breakthrough, which happens sometimes. We'll see."

"Breakthrough?"

"When she suddenly realizes she's being self-destructive and stupid and stops halfway through a bender like this."

I shake my head. "I'm going to make breakfast. Later." I press the button for the elevator.

"Yes, you are, in my kitchen."

I turn. "What, why?"

"Because you decided to overhear that conversation, so now you need the background to understand what you just heard. There are consequences to that kind of knowledge."

"What?"

"Just come on."

I take a breath and follow her into her room.

_Well, this was one way to start the new year._

**...**

**A/N: That was traumatic. For those of you who psychoanalyze my characters, you may already know why Finnick reacted so badly. If not, it will be explained next chapter.**

**Also, now that I've insinuated that Finnick's been drinking since the age of twelve I need to explain drinking culture in D4. I'll do that too. Speaking of Finnick drinking, if you're not concerned by his drinking habits…you should be. He drinks whenever he doesn't want to deal with something. Fast path to becoming an alcoholic. I'm not saying he will, just saying it's not a good road to go down.**

**Let me know what you thought.**

**-cindella204**


	36. Part II Chapter 15

**SHOUT OUTS: **

**Thanks to coaster317 and sparklegem108 for the reviews.**

**...**

**DISCLAIMER:**

**There are several concepts, characters, and real life things that I use and/or mention in this chapter that I don't own. These include but are not limited to the Hunger Games, Finnick Odair, Starbucks, and Everclear.**

**...**

**A/N: I am literally posting this in the middle of my Driver's Ed class. We do nothing at it's the worst. **

**Second to last chapter of WLBAG! Here's a schedule for the next couple things I'm putting up:**

**23 March: One year anniversary of WLBAG Part II and the THG Movie. Chapter 16 and Epilogue of WLBAG will be posted.**

**Sometime in April (maybe): Sidekick, my first AU project.**

**23 April: Two year anniversary of WLBAG. The prologue of When Beauty Became A Curse, the sequel will be posted. I will be en-route to California for DECA's International Career Development Conference that day, so if your timezone GMT+1 or greater it probably won't be the twenty-third anymore. Sorry.**

**Thank you for your never ending support!**

**...**

**IN THIS CHAPTER: **Discussion of prescription drug and alcohol abuse, Moderate strong language

**...**

**CHAPTER 15**

**1 January (Later)**

"Grab shoes and sunglasses, we're going out."

"Why?"

"Because I need to get out and I'm forcing you to come with me. And on second thought, you should probably change clothes too."

"Yeah, I will. I'll be back."

I go back to my room and pick out new clothes. The last thing I want to do right now is go out and deal with Capitol…crap, but Jayde's losing her mind here. I grab all my stuff and meet Jayde back in her room.

"You set?" she asks.

"Yeah."

"Let's go."

We walk out and I immediately put my glasses on.

"Oh my God, sunlight. Not doing good things for this headache."

"Sorry."

"Where are we going again?"

"No clue. I just wanted to get out of that building. I guess we can just walk around and you can get the Capitol experience or whatever. Starting, with Starbucks."

I look up and see the wannabe-siren logo from my hot chocolate last month.

She pulls open the door and motions for me to go in with her head.

I step in hesitantly and stop in the door like an idiot.

A majority of the store is dark wood furniture with chrome and plate glass accents, typical Capitol, but in the center is a huge skylight with a garden underneath it. The plants are like nothing I've seen other than in the Arena, and birds fly from tree to tree. The skylight is main source of light in the room; other than that there's only a dim lamp hanging over each table.

"This is Starbucks. They started out selling coffee eons ago in a city called Seattle, but now they're a full fledged restaurant. Go ahead and pick a drink, they have coffee, chocolate, alcohol, tea, lemonade; pretty much everything you can think of. I wouldn't recommend alcohol or anything with more than two shots of espresso since you're still fighting that hangover, but it's really up to you. The list is on the back wall."

That's when I realize what I thought was just wall art with text is actually their menu. It's _huge_, and I don't know what half the stuff is.

"You do realize that I don't know what any of this means?"

"Everything's good, just choose something that sounds cool. Isn't that what you do at parties?"

"Yeah, okay. What are you getting?"

"Violet Espresso Con Panna Double Shot. It's two shots of espresso with violet syrup and whipped cream on top."

"Espresso?"

"Extra strong coffee. Two shots of espresso is like a medium cup of coffee."

"Right."

She pulls her phone out of her pocket and taps something in.

"What do you want?"

I just choose the first thing I see.

"Salted Layered Mocha."

She goes back to her phone. "I just ordered. That gets sent to a computer in the back where they'll make it and then send something to me when it's done."

She starts walking to a table in the corner and I follow, sitting in a chair that's surprisingly comfortable.

"When I met Lallie she had a full fledged benzodiazepine addiction on top of being a serious alcoholic. She was staying at my apartment when she got clean and sober, so I've seen her go through this tons of times. It's definitely not an ideal situation, but she'll be okay. The thing is that you can't force her to do anything. She's not going to sober up until she decides that she needs to, and that just takes time. I know you don't want to watch her drink herself into a coma, but she's not going to, and she's just going to drink more if you bother her. As far as the Xanax, I took the bottle so she'll have to deal with coming down and that will be that, unless she gets more or has more somewhere else. I'm going to hope not though, because if she manages to get addicted again we'll have a whole other problem on our hands. I don't think she would, but in reality I have no idea how far she's willing to take this, and that scares me."

I nod. "Honestly, you were right, she scared the shit out of me. She's the closest to someone who I can relate to because she's been through a lot of the same stuff as me, so seeing her lose it like that is scary. Lately I've had to force myself to even _try_ to keep it together, and that certainly doesn't help. Why should I try if Lallie, who tries so hard, can sink that low that quickly?"

Jayde smiles sadly. "It's definitely hard. Lallie would have something nice and encouraging to say here, but honestly, I don't. That's why we keep her around, she's good at this kind of thing. She's also a lot more vigilant than I am. Her thing is all 'Do or die, fuck the world, I'm going to live how I want to live, and if you don't like it you can go screw yourself.' I'm not that brazen."

"Exactly. That also makes you a lot more stable though, and keeps you from getting into a lot of shitty situations. Yes I am talking about the week where we probably didn't sleep for more than ten hours combined trying to get everything set up for the D4 model recruitment."

"_But_ you guys pulled that off and it was absolutely fantastic. She's a risk taker and I'm not, that's why we're good together."

Her phone vibrates and she looks down at it.

"And our drinks are ready."

We walk up to a counter where a woman who's surprisingly human looking hands us two cups.

"Finnick Odair," she says with a smile.

I nod.

"It's nice to meet you, I'm Chaiyla and I'm the Starbucks Regional Manager for the Business District."

"Nice to meet you."

She smiles at Jayde. "How have you been doing? I haven't seen you in awhile."

"I've just been super busy, but I'm doing well, thanks."

She gives us another dazzling smile. "Well it was nice to see you, and hopefully I will again soon."

Jayde and I both smile before taking our drinks and walking out.

"Is she always that…smiley?"

"Yes. It used to drive me crazy, but I don't know, I guess there's something nice about someone who's actually happy at work and wants to spread that to their customers."

I take a sip of the drink in my hand and it's_heavenly_. Chocolate, salt, coffee, and other things I don't even recognize.

"What's in this?"

"It's a base of salted mocha syrup, a fancy chocolate, with hot chocolate, then a shot of espresso, and then crème fraîche, a thick cream, topped with chocolate and sea salt. It's ridiculously rich, but really good."

I don't know what half of that is, but I take another sip.

I guess this is the Capitol.

**2 January**

"I want to apologize to you. What I did wasn't fair to you or Jayde."

I nod. "Thanks."

"I also want to tell you what happened that night. I think I owe you that at least."

"Lallie—"

"Nope, this is what I want to do, Finnick. I've always considered myself a recovering alcoholic. Before this I had been sober for almost a year, but still it was _so_ hard for me to keep it under control that I still felt like I was recovering. Anyway, I _totally_ overestimated my control last night, which is what I get for trying to use alcohol as a tranquilizer. I have really high tolerance because of my alcoholic past, so I don't even start to feel anything until the third or fourth shot unless it's from the Everclear line or something. Unfortunately, I also completely lose the ability to make good decisions around the third or fourth shot as well. That's why I can't drink to get drunk. So I don't. But I was stressed out and tired, which makes it so much worse, at a party with multiple open bars, alone. Usually when I go to stuff I like that I have Jayde with me. I can go to her and tell her I'm struggling and then she can help me manage it. It helps a lot to just hear someone else vocalize that it's not a good idea. But when I'm alone…I gave into it. Figured one night wouldn't make a difference."

"So you drank too much and then you just continued to drink because you felt guilty about drinking."

"No. My tolerance is just really weird. Physically I never get much. Eventually I start to slur a little bit, but no matter how much I drink I never get to the phase where you can't walk in a straight line or anything like that. On the other hand, psychologically and emotionally it's very abrupt. I feeling nothing, and then suddenly God forbid I need to make a decision I'm _screwed_. So I did something really, really stupid and really, really wrong, and I'm not even going to go there, because I_can't_. And then once it was over I was like, 'What the _fuck_ did I just do?' I had to stay at the stupid thing but I was just feeling like _shit_so I went to the only thing I know, drugs. Found somebody, bought the pills, took two, and let it fade. But then I got home and I felt guilty for what happened, _and_ for taking pills for the first time in over a year, so I took more pills, and…it just spiraled out of control."

"So how did you stop?"

"I know my limits on both, and I'm not going to overdose myself regardless of how self-destructive I am. I had a little bit of a breakthrough and I locked myself in my room knowing that coming down was going to be horrific. I hadn't fully come down in twenty-four hours so I knew I'd be getting a little bit of benzo withdrawal, and I did. It was miserable, but it had to happen."

I nod. She was doing the _exact_ same thing I did.

It just ended a lot worse for her because of her prior history with alcohol.

"Sorry for putting you through that."

"No, my response was probably unfair. It just freaked me out, because if you can fall apart that quickly then there's no hope for me. You're older than me and a hell of a lot stronger."

"Am I? Stronger is so relative; we haven't been through the same stuff so how can you compare? If you don't want to fall into this and you fight it then you're strong, and the rest is just semantics and irrelevant details."

I'm silent for a moment. I suppose she's right. I _have_ to fight, or else I'm going to end up as a heap on the floor.

Or dead.

This is the life of a victor. The fight never ends.

**...**

**A/N: I had calmed down with the references to real brands for awhile, but I just had to bring up Starbucks again. It has a special place in my heart. And yes, there_was_ a point to the mediocre Starbucks scene. See if you can figure it out ;)**

**One more chapter! Eeep!**

**A note: I've mentioned before that I review Hunger Games fanfiction for a blog called Nightlock. My main responsibility is to choose the Author of the Month. At this point I have already mentioned most of my favorite authors, so if you have any favorite THG authors that you think are worthy, please let me know in a PM or review! Thank you!**

**-cindella204**


	37. Part II Chapter 16

**SHOUT OUTS:**

**Thanks to sparklegem108, BaileyRene, shieldmaiden19, and The Ice Within for reviewing!**

**...**

**DISCLAIMER:**

**There are several concepts, characters, and real life things that I use and/or mention in this chapter that I don't own. These include but are not limited to the Hunger Games and Finnick Odair.**

**...**

**A/N: Oh my gosh, this is the last chapter O_O And then there's an epilogue, but it's only just over a hundred words, so this is the last chapter. **

**...**

**IN THIS CHAPTER: **Moderate adult language

**...**

**CHAPTER 16**

**8 January**

I'm going home.

And I'm scared as _hell_.

Doing STORM and all that it entailed was one thing. Going back to District Four and dealing with the inevitable fallout is another. I'm somewhat curious to see what was said about Nikhila. She came on _strong_ during the victor special, and that was on mandatory viewing.

Lallie comes in and sits in front of me.

"Anxious?"

"Yes. Not just because of dealing with people or whatever, but also because I won't have anything to do until the Tour which is in three months. Nothing to do means a lot of time with my thoughts, and that's _not_ a good thing. If I can stay busy I can stop thinking."

"But do you want to stop thinking? I mean, do you really truly want to live your life without feeling? When you give up the pain you give up the love and joy too."

"To be honest, I don't want to deal with any of it, but since that's not an option I don't know. It honestly might take me my three months of nothing just to process what I've done here and really decide what I'm going to do with my life. All I really know right now is that President Snow is always watching, the Capitol drives me crazy, and I'm too sexy for my own good."

"President Snow? Did you get something from him?"

"Yeah, there was a note on the drink I got New Year's Eve. Something about how he wishes he could have seen me, et cetera, et cetera. And it freaked me out more than a little bit, especially since they were able to find me in a ballroom of six hundred drunk teenagers in about 0.2 seconds."

She nods. "I'm sure they have some kind of video tracking system so they know where _everyone_ is. I think that's the hardest part about Jayde's job, having to make all of these executive decisions knowing that she has that looming over her shoulder. That's why she's so uptight when she does projects with you. She's uptight anyway, but when you have the pressure of working with a victor it's a whole new thing. I'm generally not making important decisions, so it doesn't matter to me as much. And even with STORM where I was, technically Jayde's name was on it, so if something happened it would be her that'd get screwed over, not me."

"I talked to her about that a little bit. She said that you've always been very do or die and doing what you want, and she's just a little more careful."

She nods. "Yep. And that causes both our biggest fights and our biggest collaborations. You saw that with STORM. That model thing caused a huge shit storm, but after that it was great for design because we had her slightly more conservative view point, and then my more extreme one."

I nod and try to stifle a yawn. "I'm so tired."

"Didn't sleep last night?"

I shake my head. "Too anxious."

Lallie nods. "Sorry. I'd say get some rest, but you're losing time because of the time zone change, and then you won't sleep tonight."

"Oh, crap, I didn't even think about that. I really hate time zones. Why do they exist?"

"If not, then theoretically in some part of the world it would be dark during daytime hours and light all night. We have time zones so that no matter where in the world you are it's light outside during the daylight hours."

I turn to her and giver her an 'Are you serious?' look.

"You asked why we have time zones! That's why."

"Okay, Lallie."

"Lallie, can you come here?" Jayde calls from somewhere.

"I am needed. Don't fall asleep, you'll regret it tonight."

"Okay."

I'm asleep within ten minutes.

**...**

**Later**

"Mom!"

I envelope my mother in a hug. I'm extraordinarily close to my mom because she is the only thing in my life that's been there since the start, and will always be there.

I pull away and bite my lip, trying to think of how to put this.

"We need to talk."

She nods. "Good you think so too, that saves me time."

_Here goes nothing._

**...**

**A/N: Ugh, I'm really not sure about this chapter. I like it, but at the same time…**

**Go read the epilogue, it's already up! And then you can review and tell me how you felt about the story as a whole.**

**-cindella204**


	38. Epilogue

**DISCLAIMER:**

**There are several concepts, characters, and real life things that I use and/or mention in this chapter that I don't own. These include but are not limited to the Hunger Games and Finnick Odair.**

**...**

**EPILOGUE**

Things are different now. I absolutely hate living in the public eye, but I've learned how to play the game right. Spread the wealth by buying things I have no use for, move forward one space. Flirt with second ed kids at the beach, move forward four spaces. Talk about STORM as much as possible with kids to get an extra turn, but don't bring it up with adults or else you lose one. Don't talk about the Capitol much unless you're North Side kids. No one likes them.

It's taken awhile, but with good strategy I've pretty much figured it out.

After all, life's just a game.

**...**

**A/N: And that's the end. This story's finished. I don't even think I know what that means yet. For a year and eleven months (exactly) this has been the number one writing project in my life, and now it's...done. Thank you to all those who have supported me on this amazing journey. Review count ends at 19:00 US Eastern Time on 30 March. That day I will be posting another chapter with my acknowledgments and a preview of the sequel. The prologue and first chapter of the sequel will be posted as a new story on 23 April. I will probably post a self-destructing A/N to this story on that day so that those subscribed to this story get notified when it goes up.**

**Thanks for everything!**

**-cindella204**


	39. Acknowledgements & Announcements

**EDIT: _When Life Became A Game_ has been nominated for a REBEL award! Such an honor. Once the nomination period ends I think you can vote for it on _safeandsound12_'s profile, I'm admittedly not positive on the process. Anyway, without your support this wouldn't have happened, so thank you!**

...

Hey guys! This is _cindella204_, and there are some people who I'd like to thank.

**The Ice Within**

Icy started reviewing somewhere around Part I Chapter 10. She went back and reviewed the first ten chapters, and has reviewed every chapter since. Having that kind of unwavering support has been...indescribable. She's also awesome to talk to, has good ideas, and really understands what I'm trying to do with my characters. Thank you for _always_ being here, and also for being an awesome friend!

**shieldmaiden19**

shieldmaiden19 also started reviewing around the same time and has reviewed every chapter since. She plays a very important role as someone who will give me constructive but frank criticism. Over time, I feel like her comments have made me realize some things about my work and make corrections. Thank you for putting so much thought into your reviews and really trying to help me improve my writing style!

**sparklegem108**

sparklegem108 has been reading since...pretty close to the start (first five chapters?) and recently started to review online as well. She's my only consistent reader in real life, so I can call her or talk to her in school about my ideas, and she's always very helpful :) Thanks for sticking with me and listening to me ramble about stupid ideas every other day on the bus XD

**BaileyRene**

BaileyRene's a bit newer to the party, but she's fast, consistent, and positive, which I appreciate a lot! Even just a quick, "Good work, looking for to the next one," can mean a lot when I post a chapter at 1 AM and I'm really not sure about it. Thanks for your encouragement!

So those are four really awesome people who have been really key to me finishing this story! Thank you all! I will be writing each of them a oneshot commission as a thank you present, so if you like my writing style be on the look out for those :)

…

A shout out to all the readers:

I started this story on 23 April 2011 on a whim. I had joined FF.N to put up a Maximum Ride story (which is no longer existent, I actually never got past chapter two), but then I saw that THG was a category and I just suddenly got the idea to write Finnick's Games. And then this happened. At the time I had never posted anything online, never realized what a commitment it was to have something online, and have people waiting for you to continue it...and it's been _**awesome**_. Through a school grant I'm actually going to get a copy of this story printed in hardcover, something to remember it forever after this computer's gone and the Scrivener doc is lost. I love all you guys, and hopefully I'll be seeing you on When Beauty Became A Curse in April. Thank you!

…

A shout out to music that helped me finish this:

**Panic! At The Disco's **_**Vices & Virtues**_, **My Chemical Romance**, 3OH!3's _Streets of Gold_, Ke$ha, **Never Let Me Go by Florence + The Machine**, **All I Need by Within Temptation**, **Fall Out Boy**, **Green Day's **_**American Idiot (The Original Broadway Cast Recording)**_, Cobra Starship.

The bolded things are songs I actually like outside of for writing inspiration. You should look them up on YouTube or Spotify.

...

A shout out to YouTube videos/channels that helped me finish this when I was going through that creative drought:

_Quitting YouTube_ by crabstickz

_I'm Scared_ by charlieissocoollike

DarkSquidge

I recommend these things as well.

...

Shout out to my writing software, Scrivener. It's made by this tiny British company, but my writing process honestly wouldn't be possible without it.

...

**When Beauty Became A Curse, the sequel, will be uploaded on 23 April 2013, assuming I don't have major airport drama. I will be arriving at my school at 4:30AM so I can fly to California for the DECA International Career Development Conference. Maybe I'll send it to my phone so I can upload it in the shuttle on the way to the airport...we'll see.**

...

I'd like to end this with a shout out to everyone who has _ever_ reviewed this story. I just went and re-read them all. From the most reviews to the least, every single one matters.

The Ice Within (x37)

QueenCobraWing (x30)

shieldmaiden19 (x23)

Floracat (x17)

PurpleBoo (x12)

LikeACheshireCat (x11)

SonofHell666 (x9)

God1801 (x8)

NervousPurpleHairSpray (x7)

The Fancy Unicorn (x7)

sparklegem108 (x6)

Jeldaly (x4)

PV equals nRT/As You Die (x4)

ifeweburnyouburnwithus (x4)

BaileyRene (x4)

Bros4Life/the-crazy-kit-kat (x3)

Pineapple Fetish (x3)

Sherlein/rainbowfreak37 (x3)

WerewolvesAndCo (x3)

_anonymous poet_ (x2)

gege109 (x2)

Surfgirl7806 (x2)

Saltey (x2)

Dude (x2)

Gimjamjelly (x2)

LittleHellCat

It's All In Your Mind

Hell's demon butterfly

hunger games fan z1z

prim001

DaughterofHell666

keriala

DaniLUVyou

laurana14

isfpkitten

HyperHappy13

Fae

finnick1990

besthungergamesfanfic

HeroInTraining

Anonymous

connerlocke

2dEVIL iN dISGUISE2

patronumfire7

paigemariexo

belle of the ball s2

Guest

**Thank you one more time! See you on the 23!**

**-cindella204**

**30 March 2013**

**1 year, 11 months, and 1 week after the first chapter of When Life Became A Game**


End file.
